Female Circumcision and Genital Operations in Egypt and the Sudan: A Dilemma for Medical Anthropology

Gordon, Daniel

doi:10.1525/maq.1991.5.1.02a00010

Cited by 57 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Even Dirie, who has given a very vivid description, complains that "There's no way in the world I can explain what it feels like" (1998:45). Research goes even further to suggest that pain does not simply avoid, but may actually destroy language (Daniel 1991;Kvalheim 1995;Scarry 1985). 31 "It occurs on that fundamental level of bodily experience which language encounters, attempts to express and then fails to encompass.…”

Section: Muted Experiences Muted Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pain as a Counterpoint to Culture: Toward an Analysis of Pain Associated with Infibulation among Somali Immigrants in Norway

Johansen

2002

Med Anthropol Q

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This article focuses on how some Somali women experience and reflect on the pain of infibulation as a lived bodily experience within shifting social and cultural frameworks. Women interviewed for this study describe such pain as intolerable, as an experience that has made them question the cultural values in which the operation is embedded. Whereas this view has gone largely unvoiced in their natal communities, the Norwegian exile situation in which the present study's informants live has brought about dramatic changes. In Norway, where female circumcision is both condemned and illegal, most of the women have come to reconsider the practice--not merely as a theoretical topic or as a "cultural tradition" to be maintained or abolished but, rather, as part of their embodied and lived experience.

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Section: Muted Experiences Muted Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pain as a Counterpoint to Culture: Toward an Analysis of Pain Associated with Infibulation among Somali Immigrants in Norway

Johansen

2002

Med Anthropol Q

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“…Historical banning of the practice in Egypt reportedly arose due to uncertainty about whether the Hadith (a collection of the sayings and acts of Prophet Muhammad) considers the practice to be sunnah (a duty) or makrama (an embellishment) (AbuSahlieh 1994;El Dareer 1982;Gordon 1991;Gruenbaum 2001;Lane & Rubenstein 1996).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symbolic Gender Politics, Religious Group Identity, and the Decline in Female Genital Cutting in Minya, Egypt

Yount

2004

Social Forces

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The introduction offemale genital cuttingto Egyptpredates thearrival of Christianity and Islam. Elsewhere, a beliefthat thepractice is religiously significant hasjustifiedits continuation, and a belief that it contradicts religious tenets has instigated its abandonment. Findings from Minya, Egypt, showmorerapid declines in theprevalence offemalegenitalcuttingand more negative effects of maternaleducation on the odds of circumcising daughters among Christian compared to Muslim families. Such differences have emerged as Islamists have engaged the state in public debates over women's authentic roles and as Christian voluntary organizations have adopted alternative "gender symbols" as indicators of group identity in public discourses on development.

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“…Recently, the causes, context, and effects of FGC have gained attention in social demography (e.g., Balk 2000;Caldwell et al 1997;El-Gibaly et al 2002;Jones et al 1999;Larsen and Okonofua 2002;Larsen and Yan 2000;Yount 2002Yount , 2004. Reviews of the literature have shown that generalizable evidence of the effects of FGP on certain aspects of women's health is sparse (Gordon 1991;Obermeyer 2003;Obermeyer with Reynolds and Ratcliffe 1999;Yount andBalk 2002, 2004). Evidence of effects on fertility also varies and may not be generalizable because of cultural variation in common types of cutting and hygienic procedures surrounding the practice.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female Genital Cutting and Reproductive Experience in Minya, Egypt

Yount

Carrera

2006

maq

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In African populations practicing female genital cutting (FGC), beliefs exist that these procedures enhance reproduction and that their medicalization may diminish adverse effects, yet available findings are mixed in part for methodological reasons. We use data from a representative sample of ever-married women aged 17-55 years in Minya, Egypt, to examine the effects of type of FGC and type of circumciser on a woman's risks of primary infertility and pregnancy loss. Contrary to previous studies in Egypt, neither type of circumcision nor type of circumciser is associated with adverse fertility outcomes among circumcised women in Minya.

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Female Circumcision and Genital Operations in Egypt and the Sudan: A Dilemma for Medical Anthropology

Cited by 57 publications

References 15 publications

Pain as a Counterpoint to Culture: Toward an Analysis of Pain Associated with Infibulation among Somali Immigrants in Norway

Pain as a Counterpoint to Culture: Toward an Analysis of Pain Associated with Infibulation among Somali Immigrants in Norway

Symbolic Gender Politics, Religious Group Identity, and the Decline in Female Genital Cutting in Minya, Egypt

Female Genital Cutting and Reproductive Experience in Minya, Egypt

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