CSSGJ Seminar Series

This paper examines theories of recognition, especially the ones of Charles Taylor and Anna Elisabetta Galeotti. These theorists argue that public recognition of identities is an important and necessary addendum to liberal style toleration. However, I want to examine two problems with theories of recognition: first, the inherent tension between recognition as confirmation and recognition as performative creation; and, second, the fact that agents risk becoming ‘bound by recognition’ because they become bound to their recognised identities. I examine these problems by analysing a recent legal case from the UK: Begum. The case concerned a teenager, Shabina Begum, who took her school to court because it did not allow her to wear a jilbab. The school argued that the jilbab contravened the school’s uniform policy; Shabina Begum argued that this contravened her freedom of religion as determined under the European Convention on Human Rights. The Begum case illustrates well the case for and against recognition. I argue that, in order to make sense of the case and of the problems with recognition, it is useful to conceive of them in terms of the politics of representation. That is, what we have are struggles over the meanings of identities, actions, dress, and so on. To be recognised is (also) to be represented, and this involves both a confirmation of an already existing identity (a constative) and the creation of an identity (a performative). While those who demand and are given recognition have some power over the representations of them, they nonetheless also become bound by those representations. Thus, it is essential that we conceive of the politics of recognition/representation in a way that enhances the possibility of contesting representations.