Introduction

An abundance of articles and more scientific publications have appeared in Europe on the topic of hijab, about the Muslim communities of Europe and the position of woman in the Muslim society over the past decade. Written by journalists, politicians, academics, researchers and opinion leaders, these documents offer an insight into the issues related to the hijab and perceptions held by the European public.
With this in mind project partners researched the demographics, history, current situation of the Muslim population in their country and documented the debate around the hijab. The background research undertaken by the partnership informs and contextualizes the topic of the project and supports with historical, anthropological, sociological and political and other information the formulation of the main themes to guide the creative and artistic activities of the project.
According to the background research carried out by the project partners the hijab is a statement of faith, a cultural tradition, a gender issue and increasingly a political instrument. Yet each of the participating countries, portrays different characteristics with regards to the history, size and current position of its Muslim population in the society, and by consequence interprets this topic in a very specific way.