Masking Identity: The French HeadScarf Controversy via-a-vis Children's Rehabilitation Homes in Bangalore

The growing frequency of terrorist attacks and sporadic acts of violence based on religious and cultural differences point towards the need to rethink policies adopted by multicultural societies towards integrating diverse communities into the national fabric. Indeed, creating a sense of belonging amongst individuals from different cultures has always been a challenge for multicultural societies. In order to achieve this end, many European countries have sought to erase makers of cultural identity from the public domain. For instance, in a recent move, France has banned the use of all religious symbols in schools. Field research in two childrens’ rehabilitation homes in Bangalore suggests that efforts to create homogeneity exist at the microcosmic level, parallel to forces seeking to mask identity at the level of the nation-state. Does the policy of masking differences in identity, which is at work in different ways in both India and France, meet the challenge of forging a sense of belonging in multicultural societies? Is it an effective means of ensuring the peaceful co-existence of distinct cultural groups within a nation-state? Theories of cultural pluralism and assimilationist liberalism answer these questions in divergent ways. This paper seeks to analyze the process of masking identity and to evaluate its impact within this theoretical framework.