Genital Cutting And Transnational Sisterhood

by James, Stanlie M.; Robertson, Claire C.

• ISBN13: 9780252072734
• ISBN10: 0252072731
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-01-10
• Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr

Summary

Genital Cutting and Transnational Sisterhoodis a much-needed response to the ethnocentric and arrogant Western perceptions surrounding female genital cutting (FGC), often referred to as either female genital mutilation or female circumcision, but which includes a variety of practices of varying history, severity, geographical distribution and consequences. In five provocative essays, the contributors to this timely volume challenge representations of FGC through a range of perspectives: history, human rights, law, missionary feminism, cultural relativism, anthropology, and the intersex movement. Stanlie M. James is chair of the Afro-American Studies Department and associate professor of African American studies and women's studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She is a coeditor ofTheorizing Black Feminisms. Claire C. Robertson is professor of history and women's studies at the Ohio State University and the author ofTrouble Showed the Way: Women, Men, and Trade in the Nairobi Area, 1890-1990and other books.

Author Biography

Stanlie M. James is chair of the Afro-American Studies Department and associate professor of African American studies and women's studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She is coeditor of Theorizing Black Feminisms and the author of articles in Signs, Africa Today, and other journals Claire C. Robertson is professor of history and women's studies at the Ohio State University and the author of Trouble Showed the Way: Women, Men, and Trade in the Nairobi Area, 1890-1990, We Only Come Here to Struggle: Stories from Berida's Life, and Sharing the Same Bowl: A Socioeconomic History of Women and Class in Accra, Ghana. She is coeditor of Women and Slavery in Africa and Women and Class in Africa

Table of Contents

Prologue: Position Paper on Clitoridectomy and Infibulation, Women's Caucus of the African Studies Association	1	(4)
Introduction: Reimaging Transnational Sisterhood	5	(12)
Stanlie M. James
Claire C. Robertson
Searching for ``Voices'': Feminism, Anthropology, and the Global Debate over Female Genital Operations	17	(37)
Christine J. Walley
Getting beyond the Ew! Factor: Rethinking U.S. Approaches to African Female Genital Cutting	54	(33)
Claire C. Robertson
Listening to Other(ed) Voices: Reflections around Female Genital Cutting	87	(27)
Stanlie M. James
Female Genital Surgeries: Eradication Measures at the Western Local Level---A Cautionary Tale	114	(12)
Isabelle R. Gunning
``Cultural Practice'' or ``Reconstructive Surgery''? U.S. Genital Cutting, the Intersex Movement, and Medical Double Standards	126	(27)
Cheryl Chase
Appendix: Advocacy Organizations Opposed to Female Genital Cutting	153	(6)
Suggested Reading and Films	159	(4)
Contributors	163	(2)
Index	165