Special Feature Article Unsettling the Nation: Gender, Race and Muslim Cultural Politics in Canada

Since 9/11 Muslim women have played a critical role in unsettling and reconfiguring the boundaries of citizenship and belonging in the Canadian national imaginary. Muslim women have been at the centre of several contemporary debates in Muslim cultural politics in Canada, such as proposals for shariabased tribunals in Ontario, a Citizen's Code in Herouxville, Quebec outlawing face veils, banning hijab in girls' soccer and the 'honour killing' of a Pakistani Canadian teen. My aim is to examine through these case studies how gender and religion have become discursively located within broader political negotiations of national identity, citizenship and belonging. All of these flashpoints have galvanised debates about the 'limits of multiculturalism', the boundaries of nation and citizenship and 'good' versus 'bad' immigrants. The discussion will be framed around three primary themes: (1) disciplining culture, (2) death by culture, (3) death of culture.