Female Genital Cutting in Industrialized Countries: Mutilation or Cultural Tradition?
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Why is female genital mutilation (FGM) on the increase in industrialized countries in spite of existing policies against the practice? How is political correctness contributing to this increase? And how does religion contribute implicitly or explicitly to the persistence of FGM? This work is authored by a Kenyan immigrant to the United States who recognizes the necessity of better protection of women's rights regarding FGM in first-world nations and the need for these countries to recognize this issue as a serious challenge to values and health services. The book provides complete information about the practice of female genital cutting, explaining its origin, identifying the countries where this practice is common, and documenting the rise of FGM in industrialized nations. The second half of the book examines existing intervention programs with the goal of improving the situation by way of transforming policies, addressing the legal aspects of the issues, and improving health care services. A powerful resource for college and university level students in the humanities, social science, and medical fields, this book will also serve general readers with interest in examining challenges women grapple with internationally
When Norms Collide: Local Responses to Activism Against Female Genital Mutilation and Early Marriage
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Many transnational campaigns, and particularly the transnational campaign on violence against women, promote international norms that target the behavior of local nonstate actors. But these international norms are often at odds with local practices. What happens when the international and local norms collide? When does transnational activism lead individuals and communities to abandon local norms and embrace international ones? In When Norms Collide, Karisa Cloward presents a path-breaking theoretical framework for understanding the processes by which individuals negotiate competing demands placed on them by international and local norms. Drawing on extensive fieldwork with local communities in Kenya, she applies the theory to the practices of female genital mutilation and early marriage. Cloward argues that, when faced with international normative messages, individuals can decide to change their attitudes, their behavior, and the public image they present to international and local audiences. Moreover, the impact of transnational activism on individuals substantially depends on the salience of the international and local norms to their respective proponents, as well as on community-level factors.
Female Circumcision: The Interplay of Religion, Culture and Gender in Kenya
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A Kenyan woman theologian examines arguments for and against the controversial practice of female circumcision. Based on interviews with 50 Kenyan women representing Christianity, Islam, African Initiated Churches, and traditional religion, Wangila emphasizes the importance of understanding the gender relationships and cultural beliefs behind the practice and the important role played by religion. Wangila calls for eradication of the practice to carefully designed educational efforts sensitive to religious and cultural beliefs
Politics of the Womb - Women, Reproduction, and the State in Kenya
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By examining the political significance of reproductive controversies in 20th century Kenya, this book explores why and how control of female initiation, abortion, childbirth and premarital pregnancy have been crucial to the exercise of colonial and postcolonial power
Warrior Marks
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Infibulation
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Infibulation is the most extreme form of female circumcision. It plays an important role in the Islamic societies of northeastern Africa. Until now, the social significance and function of this practice has been poorly understood. This has been no less true of Western commentators who have condemned the practice than of relevant governments that have attempted to curb it. In Infibulation, Esther K. Hicks analyzes female circumcision as a cultural trait embedded in a historically traditional milieu and shows why it cannot be treated in isolation as a single issue destined for elimination. In its brief history it has been recognized as a pioneering piece of research with enormous consequences.
Female Circumcision and the Politics of Knowledge
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Heated debates about and insurgencies against female circumcision are symptoms of a disease emanating from a mindset that produced hierarchies of humans, conquered colonies, and built empires. The loss of colonies and empires does not in any way mitigate the ideological underpinnings of empire-building and the knowledge construction that subtends it. The mindset finds its articulation at points of coalescence. Female circumcision provided a point of coalescence and impetus for this articulation. Insisting that the hierarchy on which the imperialist project rests is not bipolar but multi-layere.
