Research Catalog

Title

Infibulation : female mutilation in Islamic northeastern Africa / Esther K. Hicks.

Author

Hicks, Esther K.

Publication

New Brunswick, U.S.A. : Transaction Publishers, ©1993.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xiv, 298 pages : illustrations, maps; 24 cm

Summary

Infibulation is the most extreme form of female circumcision. It plays an important role in the Islamic societies of northeastern Africa. Until now, the social significance and function of this practice has been poorly understood. This has been no less true of Western commentators who have condemned the practice than of relevant governments that have attempted to curb it. In Infibulation, Esther K. Hicks analyzes female circumcision as a cultural trait embedded in a historically traditional milieu and shows why it cannot be treated in isolation as a single issue destined for elimination. As Hicks demonstrates, much of the popular resistance to official efforts to eradicate infibulation has actually come from women. Circumcision constitutes a rite of passage for female children. It initiates them into womanhood and makes them eligible for marriage. Often, this is the only positive status position available to women in traditional Islamic societies. Hicks points out that although female circumcision predates the introduction of Islam into the region, the religious culture has successfully codified infibulation into the structural nexus of marriage, family, and social honor at all socioeconomic levels. Hicks analyzes the errors of governments and relevant interest groups in defining and treating infibulation as a public issue. This has serious consequences, especially when governments have resorted to penal measures. It has also had repercussions for international organizations and associated field researchers who have tended to define infibulation as a "social problem," amenable to reform. In exploring the complex interweaving of social, political, and religious factors, Hicks argues that the eradication of female circumcision can only be accomplished as part of a wider agenda of modernization. Infibulation: Female Mutilation in Islamic Northeastern Africa will be of interest to anthropologists, women's studies specialists, students of comparative religion, and Africa area specialists.

Subject

• Infibulation > Africa, Northeast
• Muslim women > Africa, Northeast
• Ethnology
• Islam
• Anthropology, Cultural
• Circumcision, Female
• Genitalia, Female > surgery
• Islam
• Ethnology
• Infibulation
• Manners and customs
• Muslim women
• Infibulatie
• Infibulation > Afrique du Nord-Est
• Musulmanes > Afrique du Nord-Est
• Africa, Northeast > Social life and customs
• Africa
• Africa
• Northeast Africa
• Afrika > Nordost
• Afrika (Nordost)

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-294) and index.

Contents

1. Infibulation: Description, Function, and Diffusion. Function: Indigenous and Academic Perspectives. Diffusion -- 2. The Socioeconomic Distribution of Infibulation. Pastoralism in Northeastern Africa and the Sudan. Pastoral-Rural-Urban Interaction and Infibulation -- 3. Infibulation in the Social Nexus. Closed Cultural Systems. Islam: A Closed Cultural System. Social Space in Islamic Societies. Gender Identification and Differential in Open and Closed Cultural Systems. The Status Position of Women in Infibulation-Practicing Societies. Marriage Customs and Laws: An Overview. Male Absenteeism, Sexual Abstinence, Sleeping Arrangements, and Infibulation. Fertility Levels and Patterns, Mortality and Birthrates, Sex Ratio Distribution, and Infibulation -- 4. Methodological Approach and Research Strategy. The Problem of Sources. Sample Selection and Statistical Analysis. Statistical Analysis. The HOMALS-technique -- 5. Infibulation and the Composite Variables. The Variables Considered. Marriage, Status, and the Practice of Infibulation. Early Marriage and Infibulation. The Composite Variables -- 6. The Future of Infibulation. Social Change and Infibulation. Infibulation, Life Expectancy, and General Health Care. The Conditions for Change -- 7. The Problem of Altering Cultural Boundaries. Infibulation in Context. Infibulation: A Social Problem? Islam: The Problem of Change. The Future of Infibulation in a Closed Cultural System. Physical Geography. Islam. Demographic Data: Sudan. Comparative Data.

ISBN

• 1560000775
• 9781560000778

LCCN

92024753

OCLC

• ocm26260231
• 26260231
• SCSB-1982451

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library