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A nuanced, interdisciplinary examination of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) that challenges dominant health and human-rights narratives by situating the practice within its social, ritual, and cultural contexts, and foregrounding the voices of affected communities.
Few issues arouse as much controversy as female circumcision, also called a variety of terms including female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), and female genital modification. The very terminology is contentious, reflecting polarised ideological stances. This book discusses, critiques, and analyses contemporary issues around female circumcision in Africa and the diaspora, campaigns and legislation against it, and alternatives to it. It traces historical continuities in anti-FGM/C campaigns and examines how certain hegemonic narratives have developed as initiatives, legislation, and protocols were rolled out. The book argues that FGM/C is not 'just' a health, human-rights, and gender-violence issue but is multi-faceted and intersectional.
Moving away from a focus on the physical 'cut', chapters examine FGM/C in terms of social relations, asserting that FGM/C must be situated and understood in deeper ritual context and that external interventions aimed at ending the practice are doomed to fail unless external actors listen to and truly engage with the communities concerned. At the same time, FGM/C is discussed in parallel with male circumcision, as both mark ritual initiation into adulthood, raise people's status, and underpin the structure of age-organised societies. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, including perspectives from anthropology, history, political science, medicine and zemiology, the book includes a range of voices, importantly, those of community members as well as scholars, development practitioners and public health professionals, with a view to promoting constructive dialogue between sectors.
Few issues arouse as much controversy as female circumcision, also called a variety of terms including female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), and female genital modification. The very terminology is contentious, reflecting polarised ideological stances. This book discusses, critiques, and analyses contemporary issues around female circumcision in Africa and the diaspora, campaigns and legislation against it, and alternatives to it. It traces historical continuities in anti-FGM/C campaigns and examines how certain hegemonic narratives have developed as initiatives, legislation, and protocols were rolled out. The book argues that FGM/C is not 'just' a health, human-rights, and gender-violence issue but is multi-faceted and intersectional.
Moving away from a focus on the physical 'cut', chapters examine FGM/C in terms of social relations, asserting that FGM/C must be situated and understood in deeper ritual context and that external interventions aimed at ending the practice are doomed to fail unless external actors listen to and truly engage with the communities concerned. At the same time, FGM/C is discussed in parallel with male circumcision, as both mark ritual initiation into adulthood, raise people's status, and underpin the structure of age-organised societies. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, including perspectives from anthropology, history, political science, medicine and zemiology, the book includes a range of voices, importantly, those of community members as well as scholars, development practitioners and public health professionals, with a view to promoting constructive dialogue between sectors.
Price: $170.00
Pages: 390
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Imprint: James Currey
Series: African Issues
Publication Date:
21 April 2026
Trim Size: 8.50 X 5.43 in
ISBN: 9781847014245
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Cultural & Ethnic Studies / African Studies, Cultural studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Black Studies (Global), SOCIAL SCIENCE / Women's Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Human Sexuality (see also PSYCHOLOGY / Human Sexuality), SOCIAL SCIENCE / Feminism & Feminist Theory, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Activism & Social Justice, MEDICAL / Ethics, Ethnic studies, Gender studies: women and girls, Sociology, Feminism and feminist theory, Pressure groups, protest movements and non-violent action, Bioethics
INTRODUCTION - Lotte Hughes, Mark Lamont, Katy Newell-Jones, Damaris Parsitau
CONTEXT AND WIDER DISCOURSES
1. FGM/C in International Agenda(s): An Historical Overview - Marta Patrício
2. Challenging the Passe-Partout Words of the FGM/C Discourse as 'Harmful Traditional Practices'. A Critical Anthropological Analysis of Dislocations - Michela Fusaschi
3. Mothers, Boys' Circumcisions, and a New Politics of Bodily Integrity in Kenya - Mark Lamont
4. Association between FGM/C and Religion in the African Context - Shannon Thomson and Sean Callaghan
LESSONS FROM THE GRASSROOTS
5. The Role of Community-Based Research in FGM/C Programming in Somaliland - Amal Ahmad and Katy Newell-Jones
6. Tackling FGM/C in Rural Communities in Guinea Conakry: A Case Report from Kankan - Els Leye, Bintou Mady Kaba, Abdoulaye Kaba, Jessica Tatout and Anneke Vercoutere
7. Assessing Strategies for FGM/C Elimination in Sudan: A Proposed Model for Promoting Behaviour Change - Nada Alassad
FGM/C IN THE DIASPORA
8. Responding to FGC/M in the UK African Diaspora: Prioritising Criminalisation Over Care - Magda Mogilnicka, Natasha Carver, Saffron Karlsen and Hannelore Van Bavel
9. On Clitoral Restoration in Survivors' Words - Tobe Levin Freifrau von Gleichen
10. Colonial Legacies, Double Standards, and Dilemmas in Defining Female Genital Modifications in Kenya, Egypt, and The Netherlands - Hannelore Van Bavel, Nina Eekert and Samuel Kimani
THE LAW: THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST CRIMINALISATION
11. FGM/C is a Crime: An Analysis of the Adoption, Implementation, and Efficacy of Legislation in Addressing FGM/C in Africa - Kirigo Njenga
12. Why has Female Circumcision Refused to Die in Kenya? - Tatu Kamau
ALTERNATIVE RITUALS
13. Strengths and Weakness of the Community-Led Alternatives Rites of Passage Approach in Kajiado, Kenya - Hilke Conradi, David Kawai, Bernard Mbogo, Samuel Muhula and Eefje Smet.
14. What's Culture Got to do with it? Some Problems with the Uses of Culture in Alternative Rites of Passage - Lotte Hughes
AFTERWORD: Listen, Discuss, and Pitch a Large Tent - Ellen Gruenbaum
Appendix - Critical Questions for Individual and/or Group Study
Bibliography
Index
CONTEXT AND WIDER DISCOURSES
1. FGM/C in International Agenda(s): An Historical Overview - Marta Patrício
2. Challenging the Passe-Partout Words of the FGM/C Discourse as 'Harmful Traditional Practices'. A Critical Anthropological Analysis of Dislocations - Michela Fusaschi
3. Mothers, Boys' Circumcisions, and a New Politics of Bodily Integrity in Kenya - Mark Lamont
4. Association between FGM/C and Religion in the African Context - Shannon Thomson and Sean Callaghan
LESSONS FROM THE GRASSROOTS
5. The Role of Community-Based Research in FGM/C Programming in Somaliland - Amal Ahmad and Katy Newell-Jones
6. Tackling FGM/C in Rural Communities in Guinea Conakry: A Case Report from Kankan - Els Leye, Bintou Mady Kaba, Abdoulaye Kaba, Jessica Tatout and Anneke Vercoutere
7. Assessing Strategies for FGM/C Elimination in Sudan: A Proposed Model for Promoting Behaviour Change - Nada Alassad
FGM/C IN THE DIASPORA
8. Responding to FGC/M in the UK African Diaspora: Prioritising Criminalisation Over Care - Magda Mogilnicka, Natasha Carver, Saffron Karlsen and Hannelore Van Bavel
9. On Clitoral Restoration in Survivors' Words - Tobe Levin Freifrau von Gleichen
10. Colonial Legacies, Double Standards, and Dilemmas in Defining Female Genital Modifications in Kenya, Egypt, and The Netherlands - Hannelore Van Bavel, Nina Eekert and Samuel Kimani
THE LAW: THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST CRIMINALISATION
11. FGM/C is a Crime: An Analysis of the Adoption, Implementation, and Efficacy of Legislation in Addressing FGM/C in Africa - Kirigo Njenga
12. Why has Female Circumcision Refused to Die in Kenya? - Tatu Kamau
ALTERNATIVE RITUALS
13. Strengths and Weakness of the Community-Led Alternatives Rites of Passage Approach in Kajiado, Kenya - Hilke Conradi, David Kawai, Bernard Mbogo, Samuel Muhula and Eefje Smet.
14. What's Culture Got to do with it? Some Problems with the Uses of Culture in Alternative Rites of Passage - Lotte Hughes
AFTERWORD: Listen, Discuss, and Pitch a Large Tent - Ellen Gruenbaum
Appendix - Critical Questions for Individual and/or Group Study
Bibliography
Index