The Politics of Knowledge on African Sexualities and its Effect on Women's Health. A Case of the Sabiny Female Genital Mutilation

2016-01-15 Social Science

Author : Gyaviira Kisitu
Release : 2016-01-15
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 961/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Politics of Knowledge on African Sexualities and its Effect on Women's Health. A Case of the Sabiny Female Genital Mutilation by : Gyaviira Kisitu

Download or read book The Politics of Knowledge on African Sexualities and its Effect on Women's Health. A Case of the Sabiny Female Genital Mutilation written by Gyaviira Kisitu. This book was released on 2016-01-15. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2015 in the subject Gender Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, course: Masters, language: English, abstract: The purpose of this study was to understand ‘What knowledge matters', and ‘Whose knowledge matters' in the study of African sexuality and in particular female genital circumcision. The Sabiny peoples of Uganda practice the tradition of wonsetapkoruk or wosho as a rite of initiation for girls. This practice is elsewhere understood as female genital cutting, female genital circumcision or female genital mutilation. Discussions on African sexuality and female genital circumcision have taken either a Western perspective or an African point of view. Since the practice is understood differently, the values attached to it differ as a consequence of the wide range of opinions. In certain ways it is considered as a determinant of who has a normal sexuality or a normal body; distinguishes girls from women; confers true femininity as opposed to masculinity. Amidst these discussions, the aspect of women‘s health is peripheral and marginalized. Instead discussions seem to be limited by issues of language, naming, and standpoints by which various bodies of knowledge argue their different positions. Communication between the various sides of the debate is also minimal. Despite the claims that female genital circumcision is harmful to women‘s health attempts to eradicate it are faced by resistances. Through an African feminist approach to the politics of knowledge on African sexualities, in this study I argue that the discourses on African sexualities and in particular those on female genital circumcision affect the understanding of women‘s health. Second, the different approaches employed in the discussions of female genital circumcision evaluate the practice using different scales of values which affect the understanding of health through what they neglect or take for granted.

Female Circumcision and the Politics of Knowledge

2005-07-30 Social Science

Author : Obioma Nnaemeka
Release : 2005-07-30
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 747/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Female Circumcision and the Politics of Knowledge by : Obioma Nnaemeka

Download or read book Female Circumcision and the Politics of Knowledge written by Obioma Nnaemeka. This book was released on 2005-07-30. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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-layered and more complex, the contributions in this volume demonstrate how imperialist discourses complicate issues of gender, race, and history. Nnaemeka gives voice to the silenced and marginalized, and creates space for them to participate in knowledge construction and theory making. The authors in this volume trace the travels of imperial and colonial discourses from antecedents in anthropology, travel writings, and missionary discourse, to modern configurations in films, literature, and popular culture. The contributors interrogate foreign, or Western, modus operandi and interventions in the so-called Third World and show how the resistance they generate can impede development work and undermine the true collaboration and partnership necessary to promote a transnational feminist agenda. With great clarity and in simple, accessible language, the contributors present complex ideas and arguments which hold significant implications for transnational feminism and development.

The Twilight of Cutting

2017 Health & Fitness

Author : Saida Hodzic
Release : 2017
Genre : Health & Fitness
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 999/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Twilight of Cutting by : Saida Hodzic

Download or read book The Twilight of Cutting written by Saida Hodzic. This book was released on 2017. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The last three decades have witnessed a proliferation of nongovernmental organizations engaging in new campaigns to end the practice of female genital cutting across Africa. These campaigns have in turn spurred new institutions, discourses, and political projects, bringing about unexpected social transformations, both intended and unintended. Consequently, cutting is waning across the continent. At the same time, these endings are misrecognized and disavowed by public and scholarly discourses across the political spectrum. What does it mean to say that while cutting is ending, the Western discourse surrounding it is on the rise? And what kind of a feminist anthropology is needed in such a moment? The Twilight of Cutting examines these and other questions from the vantage point of Ghanaian feminist and reproductive health NGOs that have organized campaigns against cutting for over thirty years. The book looks at these NGOs not as solutions but as sites of “problematization.” The purpose of understanding these Ghanaian campaigns, their transnational and regional encounters, and the forms of governmentality they produce is not to charge them with providing answers to the question, how do we end cutting? Instead, it is to account for their work, their historicity, the life worlds and subjectivities they engender, and the modes of reflection, imminent critique, and opposition they set in motion.

Female Genital Cutting, Women's Health, and Development

2007-08-22 Education

Author : Khama Rogo
Release : 2007-08-22
Genre : Education
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 843/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Female Genital Cutting, Women's Health, and Development by : Khama Rogo

Download or read book Female Genital Cutting, Women's Health, and Development written by Khama Rogo. This book was released on 2007-08-22. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Female Genital Cutting, Women's Health, and Development' provides a comprehensive understanding of the issue of femal genital mutiliation/cutting scope, challenges, opportunities, best practices, and how communities, development agencies, and national governments can work together to eliminate the practices on the ground. The World Bank is committed to assisting governments in ending the practice of female genital cutting, as the practice has direct, negative impact on the health and well-being of women around the world. The recommendations set forth in this paper take advantage of the World Bank's comparative advantage in dealing with governments. Continued silence perpetuates the practice, thereby undermining women's productivity.

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