Description
Book SynopsisBolokoli, khifad, tahara, tahoor, qudiin, irua, bondo, kuruna, negekorsigin, and kene-kene are a few of the terms used in local African languages to denote a set of cultural practices collectively known as female circumcision. Practiced in many countries across Africa and Asia, this ritual is hotly debated. Supporters regard it as a central coming-of-age ritual that ensures chastity and promotes fertility. Human rights groups denounce the procedure as barbaric. It is estimated that between 100 million and 130 million girls and women today have undergone forms of this genital surgery.
Female Circumcision gathers together African activists to examine the issue within its various cultural and historical contexts, the debates on circumcision regarding African refugee and immigrant populations in the United States, and the human rights efforts to eradicate the practice. This work brings African women''s voi
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"Abusharaf's integrated collection of articles presents current international, cultural, and ideological debates as well as accounts of campaigns against the practices in several countries in Africa and of their impact in Europe and North America. . . . A provocative book, clearly written for both general and scholarly audiences." * American Ethnologist *
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: The Custom in Question
—Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf
PART I: LOCAL CONTEXTS AND CURRENT DEBATES
2. "Had This Been Your Face, Would You leave It as Is?" Female Circumcision Among Nubians of Egypt
—Fadwa El Guindi
3. Male and Female Circumcision: The Myth of the Difference
—Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh
PART II: AFRICAN CAMPAIGNS TO ERADICATE FEMALE CIRCUMCISION
4. Community-Based Efforts to End Female Genital Mutilation in Kenya: Raising Awareness and Organizing Alternative Rites of Passage
—Asha Mohamud, Samson Radeny, and Karin Ringheim
5. A Community of Women Empowered: The Story of Deir Al Barsha
—Amal Abdel Hadi
6. Strategies for Encouraging the Abandonment of Female Genital Cutting: Experiences from Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Mali
—Nafissatou J. Diop and Ian Askew
7. The Sudanese National Committee on the Eradication of Harmful Traditional Practices and the Campaign Against Female Genital Mutilation
—Hamid El Bashir
8. The Babiker Badri Scientific Association for Women's Studies and the Eradication of Female Circumcision in the Sudan
—Shahira Ahmed
9. "My Grandmother Called It the Three Feminine Sorrows": The Struggle of Women Against Female Circumcision in Somalia
—Raqiya D. Abdalla
PART III: DEBATES IN IMMIGRANT-RECEIVING SOCIETIES
10. The Double-Edged Sword: Using Criminal Law Against Female Genital Mutilation
—Audrey Macklin
11. Representing Africa in the Kasinga Asylum Case
—Charles Piot
12. Afterword: Safe Harbor and Homage
—L. Amede Obiora
Notes
List of References
List of Contributors
Index
Acknowledgments
