Infibulation: Female Mutilation in Islamic Northeastern Africa » (REV)

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 A