Transcultural bodies : female genital cutting in global context / edited by Ylva Hernlund, Bettina Shell-Duncan.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Hernlund, Ylva, 1962-

Shell-Duncan, Bettina, 1963-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Female genital mutilation.

Infibulation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (386 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Female "circumcision" or, more precisely, female genital cutting (FGC), remains an important cultural practice in many African countries, often serving as a coming-of-age ritual. It is also a practice that has generated international dispute and continues to be at the center of debates over women's rights, the limits of cultural pluralism, the balance of power between local cultures, international human rights, and feminist activism. In our increasingly globalized world, these practices have also begun immigrating to other nations, where transnational complexities vex debates about how to resolve the issue. Bringing together thirteen essays, Transcultural Bodies provides an ethnographically rich exploration of FGC among African diasporas in the United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia. Contributors analyze changes in ideologies of gender and sexuality in immigrant communities, the frequent marginalization of African women's voices in debates over FGC, and controversies over legislation restricting the practice in immigrant populations.

Contents:

Transcultural positions : negotiating rights and culture / Ylva Hernlund and Bettina Shell-Duncan

Gender crusades : the female circumcision controversy in cultural perspective / Janice Boddy

A refuge from tradition and the refuge of tradition : on anti-circumcision paradigms / L. Amede Obiora

Female circumcision in Africa and beyond : the anthropology of a difficult issue / Aud Talle

Persistence of tradition or reassessment of cultural practices in exile? : discourses on female circumcision among and about Swedish Somalis / Sara Johnsdotter

Managing cultural diversity in Australia : legislating female circumcision, legislating communities / Juliet Rogers

Representing Africa in the Kasinga asylum case / Charles Piot

Seeking asylum, debating values, and setting precedents in the 1990s : the cases of Kassindja and Abankwah in the United States / Corinne A. Kratz

Making mandinga or making Muslims? : debating female circumcision, ethnicity, and Islam in Guinea-Bissau and Portugal / Michelle C. Johnson

Infibulation and the orgasm puzzle : sexual experiences of infibulated Eritrean women in rural Eritrea and Melbourne, Australia / Mansura Dopico

Experiencing sex in exile : can genitals change their gender? : on conceptions and experiences related to female genital cutting (FGC) among Somalis in Norway / R. Elise B. Johansen

"Ain't I a woman too?" : challenging myths of sexual dysfunction in circumcised women / Fuambai Ahmadu

The failure of pluralism? / Henrietta L. Moore.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 331-360) and index.

ISBN:

1-281-09256-8

9786611092566

0-8135-4138-7

OCLC:

476118279