Making the Mark: Gender, Identity, and Genital Cutting: 93 (Research in International Studies, Africa Series) - Hardcover

Prazak, Miroslava

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0896803090 ISBN 13: 9780896803091

Publisher: Ohio University Press, 2016

Synopsis

Why do female genital cutting practices persist? How does circumcision affect the rights of girls in a culture where initiation forms the lynchpin of the ritual cycle at the core of defining gender, identity, and social and political status? In Making the Mark, Miroslava Prazak follows the practice of female circumcision through the lives and activities of community members in a rural Kenyan farming society as they decide whether or not to participate in the tradition.
In an ethnography twenty years in the making, Prazak weaves multiple Kuria perspectives―those of girls, boys, family members, circumcisers, political and religious leaders―into a riveting account. Though many books have been published on the topic of genital cutting, this is one of the few ethnographies to give voice to evolving perspectives of practitioners, especially through a period of intense anticutting campaigning on the part of international NGOs, local activists, and donor organizations. Prazak also examines the cultural challenges that complicate the human-rights anti-FGM stance.
Set in the rolling hills of southwestern Kenya, Making the Mark examines the influences that shape and change female genital cutting over time, presenting a rich mosaic of the voices contributing to the debate over this life-altering ritual.

About this title

About the Author

Miroslava Prazak is a scholar of economic development and cultural change in East Africa. Employing multidisciplinary research strategies, her work addresses globalization; inequality; social, health, and human rights issues; culturally based ways of knowing; gender-based violence; and politics of the body. She teaches anthropology and African studies at Bennington College.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ohio University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0896803090
• ISBN 13: 9780896803091
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 332