[Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 2008, vol. 33, no. 4]  2008 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0097-9740/2008/3304-0003$10.00 AlevC ¸ınar Subversion and Subjugation in the Public Sphere: Secularism and the Islamic Headscarf I n the mid-1980s, university students wearing the Islamic headscarf started to appear in public places in Turkey, giving a new sort of visi- bility to Islam in the public sphere, contrary to the secularist norms sanctioned by the state. 1 Within a decade the headscarf went from being a controversial item of religious attire to a matter of Turkish national security. In February 1997, the National Security Council identified the headscarf as one of the main indicators of what they called the “Islamic threat”—the single most important threat to the well-being and security of the country—and called for the enforcement of a ban on the headscarf in all public places, including classrooms, universities, and public offices. 2 How is it that such a simple item of clothing can turn into such a powerful disruptive force? This article explores the headscarf controversy in the context of con- temporary debates about gender and the public sphere. I am particularly interested in how the public sphere in Turkey has been produced in re- lation to norms of secularism and modernity by the forging and display of new gender identities, especially through regulations on clothing and the appearance of women. I also examine the emergence of new Islamic subjectivities through the increasing visibility of the Islamic headscarf in secular public spaces, which poses a sufficiently formidable challenge to the authority and power of secularist discourse that it has been deemed 1 There are a wide variety of ways in which women wear head coverings in Turkey. The controversial headscarf that is of concern here is one that is part of a distinct type of Islamic dress, which typically includes a scarf tied under the chin so as to conceal the hair as well as the neck, worn with loose-fitting long dresses or overcoats. This type of attire is almost identical to what has been termed new veiling by Arlene MacLeod, referring to a type of Muslim dress that emerged in Egypt in the early eighties and is a specifically urban and middle-class phenomenon and not a continuation of a traditional Muslim dress style (1991, 109–12). 2 National Security Council decree number 406, February 28, 1997. This decree was not made public in full, but parts of it are available (in Turkish) in Eraydın (2006).