Female Circumcision: Multicultural Perspectives (Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights) [Paperback]

Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0812219414 | ISBN-13: 978-0812219418 | Publication Date: January 22, 2007

Bolokoli, 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 voices into the discussion, foregrounds indigenous processes of social and cultural change, and demonstrates the manifold linkages between respect for women's bodily integrity, the empowerment of women, and democratic modes of economic development.

This volume does not focus narrowly on female circumcision as a set of ritualized surgeries sanctioned by society. Instead, the contributors explore a chain of connecting issues and processes through which the practice is being transformed in local and transnational contexts. The authors document shifts in local views to highlight processes of change and chronicle the efforts of diverse communities as agents in the process of cultural and social transformation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A provocative book, clearly written for both general and scholarly audiences."—American Ethnologist

"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

From the Publisher

Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf is Senior Research Associate at the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women at Brown University. She is the author of Wanderings: Sudanese Migrants and Exiles in North America. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (January 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812219414
• ISBN-13: 978-0812219418
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,429,526 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)