‘Veils and wooden clogs don't go together’

The present discourse on Islam can be regarded as a cultural racist discourse. The construction of Muslims as the ‘Other’ necessarily implies constructing a ‘Self’. This article deals with the dialectical process of reification by studying Dutch female converts to Islam. Ruptures in the relationships between converts and their relatives can illuminate Dutch national and cultural identity. Converts change important markers of identity such as name and appearance. They also trespass Dutch values connected to cultural practice such as food, feasting and funerals. The most important construction of Dutch national and cultural identity vis-à-vis converts is related to sex and gender. Veiled Muslimas in particular express that they cannot longer be ‘real Dutch’. Veiling is subordination and oppressed women are the ‘ultimate others’ of Dutch self-perception.