DOCSLIB.ORG

Elfriede Jelinek and Alice Walker Chapter Author(S): Tobe Levin

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Elfriede Jelinek and Alice Walker Chapter Author(S): Tobe Levin Purdue University Press Chapter Title: Feminist (and “Womanist”) as Public Intellectuals? Elfriede Jelinek and Alice Walker Chapter Author(s): Tobe Levin Book Title: The New York Public Intellectuals and Beyond Book Subtitle: Exploring Liberal Humanism, Jewish Identity, and the American Protest Tradition Book Editor(s): Ethan Goffman, Daniel Morris Published by: Purdue University Press. (2009) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wq43s.20 JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms Purdue University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The New York Public Intellectuals and Beyond This content downloaded from 76.77.171.74 on Mon, 27 Mar 2017 16:29:40 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Feminist (and “Womanist”) as Public Intellectuals? Elfriede Jelinek and Alice Walker Tobe Levin Le silence est la forme civilisée du génocide. —Régis Debray Creative writers have functioned as public intellectuals at least since the Bible or, less controversially, since Euripedes’ Lysistrata featured women’s fi rst sex strike for peace. Fiction is among the most eff ective whistle-blowers, drawing society’s attention to its evils in the hope of eff ecting tikkun olam, or “healing the world.” Indeed, Toni Morrison, discussing the aptitude of the imagination to elucidate slavery, contends that “some things only artists can do—and it’s their job.” 1 Like an earlier generation of New York Intellectuals, Morrison links aesthetics, poli- tics, and ethics with profound eff ect in her most popular novel, Beloved. Th e interview cited above reveals how, initially inspired by the historical Margaret Garner, Morrison sought to fi ll a gap in understanding of “the peculiar institu- tion.” Certainly, she agreed, there is a lot of history but nothing in the heavy tomes to “get close to.” She speculated that instead of a broad, sweeping approach she would try something personal, “narrow and deep.” Rewarded by a Nobel Prize, Morrison apparently succeeded. Th e feminist project is similar, of course, defi ned as intricate engagement to generate change, and its clarion call in the seventies—the personal is politi- cal—resulted in the elevation of emotion and anecdote to complement analysis. Just as the New York Intellectuals wedded belles lettres to a more traditional essay 243 This content downloaded from 76.77.171.74 on Mon, 27 Mar 2017 16:29:40 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms MMorris_FINAL.indborris_FINAL.indb 224343 99/25/2008/25/2008 88:13:52:13:52 AAMM 244 TOBE LEVIN form, so too have many feminists placed autobiography, or “the authority of expe- rience,” at the heart of their public presence. European and, in particular, German feminism provided one alternative defi nition of the public intellectual, reserving a spectacular place for the narra- tive artist. Whereas in the United States nonfi ction such as Betty Friedan’s Th e Feminine Mystique (1963) prompted a movement, it was storytelling that inspired women’s organizing in Germany and Austria. By word of mouth alone, Verena Stefan’s slim underground volume—Häutungen2—reached best-seller status while Elfriede Jelinek’s early novels laid solid groundwork for the Nobel Prize winner’s reputation as an outspoken critic of complicity between the economic and ideological systems. Inspired by the Frankfurt School, Jelinek’s fi rst three works of fi ction demonstrate how rhetoric disempowers the working classes by placing them in a double-bind. Her heroines live in the superfi cially unscathed world delineated by imported sitcoms. In thought, Jelinek’s protagonists cannot escape from the template provided for viewers’ understanding of themselves. In the best of all possible media worlds, with affl uence attainable and resolution steady, class confl ict becomes literally unthinkable and change impossible un- less, deploying irony and other sophisticated exegetic skills required to enjoy her prose, a reader dives beneath the surface. In this sense, fi ction, because it can provoke analytic and emotional think- ing that leads to action, appears as a genre of choice for German-language femi- nist authors. Literary strategies signifi cant for Jelinek, for instance, include the Brechtian alienation eff ect; Althusser’s interpellations that call into being forces for progress; or Hans Magnus Enzensberger’s consciousness industry illuminat- ing how advertising saturates the public mind, dangling promises before those who, however, are systematically excluded from enjoying the fruits of their labor. Needless to say, the sources reveal a solid footing on the left , although women’s concerns are not considered a “secondary contradiction.” If Marxism off ers a universalist theory of human rights, Jelinek implicitly critiques its hijacking by male spokespersons dismissive of the more personal perspective. For women clearly face a specifi c gendered burden, one in which the body becomes a vehicle for marking oppression. Public intellectuals, therefore, extend their classic role of speaking truth to power, and speaking for the oppressed, by intervening on the terrain of the body. Critics of pornography, such as the late Andrea Dworkin, probe the fraught relationship between representations of women as prostitutes—the etymology of pornography—and its eff ects on actual females. Or in Elfriede Jelinek’s analysis, “Pornography is the exercise of violence against woman aimed at humiliating . her. If, for example, in a hardcore novel or fi lm, a man is whipped, he remains an individual freely choosing to degrade himself. But when a woman is dishonored . she is not violated as herself, as an individual. Rather, all women are debased along with her. A member of the op- pressed caste is a stand-in, so to speak, for all the rest. Th at’s the decisive thing.”3 This content downloaded from 76.77.171.74 on Mon, 27 Mar 2017 16:29:40 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms MMorris_FINAL.indborris_FINAL.indb 224444 99/25/2008/25/2008 88:13:52:13:52 AAMM Feminist (and “Womanist”) as Public Intellectuals? 245 In other words, sexual violence, disseminated by a billion-dollar porno industry, remains pervasive in our times. Postcolonial and antiracist writers, among them Alice Walker, confront a similar violence, oft en disguised, that denies individuality to various subordi- nated groups. In both Walker and Jelinek the female body is aggressed against, the agent either outside or within as part of an internal struggle with the norms of dominant society. Although in marked contrast to Jelinek in style and tone, Walker, in fi ction and essays, remains concerned with women’s equality and dig- nity, combining empathy for women with reclaiming majesty for African Ameri- cans and Africans—men included—subjected to a “Western” gaze. Just as women have found it challenging to secure an audience among men who refuse to take their intellectual contributions seriously, so, too, have disempowered groups such as the descendants of slaves been excluded. In other words, as Orlando Pa- terson describes it, not only women but also men in discriminated populations suff er “social death.”4 Because the philosophical and aesthetic choices of the American and Aus- trian diverge so signifi cantly, their juxtaposition may at fi rst seem strained. Al- though both aim to ensure justice for women, Jelinek appears less hopeful than Walker that this can, indeed, be done. To Jelinek, uncovering the mechanisms that mute women’s voices is a fi rst step, the second being to disarm those struc- tures. But can they be defeated? Will the public accept the Other? Defi ned by its maleness, which excludes femininity, civil society requires a private realm to which women are confi ned, and Jelinek doubts whether the resulting entrapment by language—the master’s tools—can ever be breached. Walker, unlike Jelinek, displays exuberant defi ance of such seeming truth. For the roots of this distinction emerge from geography and history. Jelinek, an equality feminist, aspires to full participation in the polity as it de- veloped out of the Enlightenment with a new, euphoric emphasis on individual rights. Th e fact that these rights were not extended to women then, and have only been begrudgingly granted since, suggests that the system itself is fl awed and the challenge to repair it great, if not impossible. For Walker, nothing is impossible. Hers is a utopian vision. We therefore enjoy a study in contrasts: Jelinek’s pessimism versus Walker’s optimism; Jelinek’s nihilism versus Walker’s constructivism; Jelinek’s atheism ver- sus Walker’s pan-spirituality and god-driven language; Jelinek’s objective, imper- sonal irony versus Walker’s subjective, personal, even down-home discourse. Th e result is also a contrast in audience, Jelinek readers tending to be well-schooled rebels from the Bildungsbürgertum, or educated middle class, Walker’s from a broader, possibly less comprehensively schooled social segment. Yet instructive analogies exist. Both belong to minorities with traumatic histories, slavery for Walker, the Holocaust for Jelinek. Both experienced per- sonal trauma, Walker in the form of a gunshot wound that blinded one eye, This content downloaded from 76.77.171.74 on Mon, 27 Mar 2017 16:29:40 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms MMorris_FINAL.indborris_FINAL.indb 224545 99/25/2008/25/2008 88:13:52:13:52 AAMM 246 TOBE LEVIN Jelinek in her upbringing, which she has called “psychological torture.”5 Both have been acclaimed, Walker awarded a Pulitzer, Jelinek the Nobel Prize.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Female Genital Excision and the Implications of Federal Prohibition
    William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice Volume 2 (1995) Issue 1 William & Mary Journal of Women and Article 7 the Law October 1995 Female Genital Excision and the Implications of Federal Prohibition Blake M. Guy Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl Part of the Human Rights Law Commons, and the Indian and Aboriginal Law Commons Repository Citation Blake M. Guy, Female Genital Excision and the Implications of Federal Prohibition, 2 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 125 (1995), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl/vol2/iss1/7 Copyright c 1995 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl FEMALE GENITAL EXCISION AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF FEDERAL PROHIBITION BLAKE M. Guy* To be a woman is to be healthy.1 "No one racial, religious or ethnic group has known discrimi- nation as consistently as women have throughout recorded his- tory."2 Due to the ongoing efforts of several international organizations, however, recent observers note an unprecedented increase in the international attention focused on women's human rights and the advancement of the status of women. 3 In February of 1994, the United States Department of State issued its annual human rights report.4 Documenting the abuse and discrimination present in nearly 200 countries, the report was perhaps most noteworthy for its expanded examination of the physical abuse of women throughout the world." The report "took a broad view of women and human rights, looking not just at abuses by governments, but at the indignities and discrimi- nation" with which governments often have little involvement.6 The physical health and psychological well-being of women around the globe are placed in constant jeopardy by the contin- * J.D.
    [Show full text]
  • Healing the Sacred Yoni in the Land of Isis: Female Genital Mutilation Is Banned (Again) in Egypt*1
    HEALING THE SACRED YONI IN THE LAND OF ISIS: FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION IS BANNED (AGAIN) IN EGYPT*1 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................ 290 II. WHAT IS FEMALE CIRCUMCISION?.................................. 291 III. WHY IS FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION PRACTICED? ............................................................... 293 IV. HEALTH RISKS TO VICTIMS OF FGM ............................... 296 V. INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION ON FGM .............................. 297 VI. ERADICATION EFFORTS OUTSIDE EGYPT ......................... 300 A. Eradication Efforts Outside Africa ........................ 300 B. Eradication Efforts Within Africa .......................... 301 1. The Inter-African Committee (IAC) .................. 301 2. Sudan .......................................................... 302 3. Senegal ........................................................ 303 4. Somalia ........................................................ 304 5. Kenya........................................................... 304 6. Tanzania ...................................................... 305 7. Uganda ........................................................ 306 VII. FGM AS PRACTICED IN EGYPT ....................................... 307 VIII. EGYPTIAN EDUCATION EFFORTS AIMED AT ERADICATION OF FGM ................................................. 309 A. The Egyptian Society for the Prevention of Traditional Practices Harmful to Woman and Child................................................ 309 * This
    [Show full text]
  • Using Anonymised Individual Census Records to Estimate the Prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation in Local Authority Areas in England and Wales
    Using anonymised individual census records to estimate the prevalence of female genital mutilation in local authority areas in England and Wales Alison Macfarlane Maternal and child health research centre, City, University of London Efua Dorkenoo Formerly of Equality Now Funded by the Home Office and the Trust for London Efua Dorkenoo, 1949‐2014 2 Definition Female Genital Mutilation / Cutting (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the female external genitalia and/or injury to the female genital organs for cultural or non‐any other non‐therapeutic reasons (WHO 1995). 3 WHO classification of FGM by type I Partial or total removal of the clitoris and/or the prepuce (clitoridectomy). II Partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora minora and the labia majora.(excision). III Narrowing of the vaginal orifice with creation of a covering seal by cutting and appositioning the labia minora and/or the labia majora, with or without excision of the clitoris (infibulation). IV Unclassified: All other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non‐medical purposes, usually for cosmetic purposes. 4 5 Source: UNICEF: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A statistical overview and exploration of the dynamics of change. 2013 Countries with FGM reported but no national data Iran –mainly Kurdistan Indonesia –some recent national data Oman Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Some populations in India and Pakistan Countries to which women have migrated 6 Estimating the prevalence of female genital mutilation in England and Wales Efua Dorkenoo, FORWARD Linda Morison London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Alison Macfarlane Department of Midwifery, City University Objectives To estimate for residents of England and Wales: 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Bridging the Gap in the Hopes of Ending Female Genital Cutting Kirsten Bowman
    Santa Clara Journal of International Law Volume 3 | Issue 1 Article 5 1-1-2005 Bridging the Gap in the Hopes of Ending Female Genital Cutting Kirsten Bowman Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/scujil Recommended Citation Kirsten Bowman, Comment, Bridging the Gap in the Hopes of Ending Female Genital Cutting, 3 Santa Clara J. Int'l L. 132 (2005). Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/scujil/vol3/iss1/5 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Santa Clara Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Santa Clara Journal of International Law by an authorized administrator of Santa Clara Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Vol. 3 [2004] BRIDGING THE GAP 132 Kirsten Bowman COMMENT: BRIDGING THE GAP IN THE HOPES OF ENDING FEMALE GENITAL CUTTING Kirsten Bowman1 “The phone rang one cloudy afternoon and I knew I had to answer that call. It was somebody calling for Oprah Winfrey. She is a powerful businesswoman and I respect that. We are putting together a program on sanctioned violence against women around the world’ the voice on the other end of the line said. ‘We would like to have you on the show. Part of the broadcast will be on empowering women.’ ‘Do you want me to talk about FGM?’ ‘Female genital mutilation will be one of the issues we cover’ she said, ‘but Calista Flockhart is going to interview women in Africa about that.’ ‘Calista Flockhart?’ I said.
    [Show full text]
  • Female Genital Mutilation
    The Prevention and the Management of the Health Complications Policy Guidelines for nurses and midwives Department of Gender and Women’s Health Department of Reproductive Health and Research Family and Community Health World Health Organization Geneva WHO/FCH/GWH/01.5 WHO/RHR/01.18 Dist: General Original: English Female Genital Mutilation The Prevention and the Management of the Health Complications Policy Guidelines for nurses and midwives Department of Gender and Women’s Health Department of Reproductive Health and Research Family and Community Health World Health Organization Geneva FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION POLICY GUIDELINES FOR NURSES AND MIDWIVES 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . 4 POLICY NO. 3: FOREWORD . 5 Performance of functions that are outside the INTRODUCTION . 6 nurse´s/midwife's legal scope of practice . 12 POLICY NO. 4: INTERNATIONAL RESOLUTIONS AND Documentation of FGM . 12 CONVENTIONS AGAINST FEMALE POLICY NO. 5 GENITAL MUTILATION . 7 Prevention of female genital mutilation by nurses, midwives other health professionals . 13 POLICY STATEMENTS REGARDING THE PREVENTION OF FGM AND THE APPENDIX . 14 MANAGEMENT OF GIRLS AND WOMEN WITH FGM COMPLICATIONS . 11 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . 14 SELECTED WHO PUBLICATIONS AND POLICY NO. 1: DOCUMENTS OF RELATED INTEREST . 14 Opening up of type 111 FGM (infibulation) . 11 POLICY NO. 2: Refusal of requests to re-stitch an opened up vulva (re-infibulation) . 11 FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION 4 POLICY GUIDELINES FOR NURSES AND MIDWIVES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This document is part of a set of training materials (Teacher’s Guide, student manual and policy guidelines) which have been prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) to facilitate training for health personnel on female genital mutilation.
    [Show full text]
  • Extricating the Ethical and Legal Issues in Female Genital Ritual
    “CIRCUMCISION” OR “MUTILATION”? VOLUNTARY OR FORCED EXCISION? EXTRICATING THE ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES IN FEMALE GENITAL RITUAL OBIAJULU NNAMUCHI I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 85 II. RECONSTRUCTING THE DEBATE............................................. 89 III. CULTURAL RELATIVISM AND FEMALE GENITAL RITUAL ....... 95 IV. FGM: AN EVIL OR SOMETHING ELSE? .................................. 98 V. SOME ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS........................................ 107 VI. HUMAN RIGHTS PROHIBITIONS: ARE THEY SUFFICIENTLY ANTIDOTAL OR WARRANTED IN ALL CASES? ...................... 111 VII. CONCLUSION ....................................................................... 118 I. INTRODUCTION The genesis of the procedure most commonly described as female circumcision (FC) or female genital mutilation (FGM) is rooted in antiquity.1 The ritual has Obiajulu Nnamuchi, LL.B (NAU, Nigeria), LL.M (Notre Dame), LL.M (Toronto), M.A. (Louisville), S.J.D. (Loyola, Chicago). Interim President & Chief Counsel, Centre for Health, Bioethics and Human Rights, Enugu, Nigeria. To all those whose suggestions and critiques, in one way or another, aided the refinement of the ideas espoused in this paper, particularly Prof. Nancy N. Potter and colleagues at the University of Louisville Bioethics and Medical Humanities Program where this paper was first presented, I owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude. And to Prof. Mark A. Rothstein, for his extraordinary support, colleagues at the Loyola University Chicago Law School, and AdaObi Nnamuchi, my able assistant, I am eternally grateful. All errors and omissions, of course, remain exclusively mine. 1 Though the origin of FGR is unknown, the Greek historian Strabo found evidence of the procedure among ancient Egyptians in early first century A.D. See DAVID L. GOLLAHER, CIRCUMCISION: A HISTORY OF THE WORLD‘S MOST CONTROVERSIAL SURGERY 195-96 (2000). His finding was corroborated in a fourth century papyrus from St.
    [Show full text]
  • 09:392.15 Female Genital Mutilation in African And
    UDK 821.111(6:73=96).09:392.15 FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION IN AFRICAN AND AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN'S LITERATURE Darja Marinsek Abstract The article builds on the existing dispute between African and African American women writers on the competence of writing about female genital mutilation (FGM), and tries to determine the existence and nature of the differences between the writings of these two groups. The author uses comparative analysis of two popular African and African American novels, comparing their ways of describing FGM, its causes and consequences, the level ob objectivity and the style of the narrations. Tltis isfollowM-oy adiscussiorfon tlie reasons-for sucn.-differences,· incorporating a larger cirCle of both African and African American women authors, at the same time analysing the deviance within the two groups. While the differences between African American writers are not that great, as they mostly fail to present the issue from different points of view, which is often the result of their lack of direct knowledge of the topic, African authors' writing is in itself discovered to be ambivalent and not at all invariable. The reasons for such ambivalence are then discussed in greater context, focus­ ing on the effect of the authors' personal contact with circumcision as well as their knowledge and acceptance of Western values. The author concludes by establishing the African ambivalent attitude towards FGM, which includes different aspects of the issue, as the most significant difference between their and African American writers' description of this practice. INTRODUCTION Female genital mutilation (FGM) first became a matter of considerable interna­ tional concern at the 1980s Women's NGO forum in Copenhagen, when the practice was portrayed as barbaric and cruel by western female advocates for women's rights1• The African delegation thought this an imposing of a subject poorly known, yet critically judged, and responded by refusing financial aid offered by the Western governments to abolish the practice.
    [Show full text]
  • Addressing Female Genital Mutilation in Kenya Kerubo Abuya Saybrook University
    Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies Volume 1 Article 10 Issue 1 Fall, Inaugural Issue June 2015 Leadership for Cultural Transformation: Addressing Female Genital Mutilation in Kenya Kerubo Abuya Saybrook University Follow this and additional works at: http://pubs.lib.umn.edu/ijps Recommended Citation Abuya, Kerubo (2015) "Leadership for Cultural Transformation: Addressing Female Genital Mutilation in Kenya," Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 10. Available at: http://pubs.lib.umn.edu/ijps/vol1/iss1/10 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License The Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies is published by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. Authors retain ownership of their articles, which are made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial license (CC BY-NC 4.0). Abuya: Leadership for Cultural Transformation LEADERSHIP FOR CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION IN KENYA: ADDRESSING FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION Kerubo Abuya, MBA, MSc, PMP, PhD(c) Abstract The cultural practice of female genital mutilation persists, with grave implications for girls’ and women’s health. The cultural reasons behind the practice are complex. It is therefore essential that critique of the practice come from members of the affected communities. This paper presents a thoughtful review of current community views and proposes an alternative cultural narrative using cultural transformation theory to shift community norms. Keywords: cultural practice; cultural transformation; female circumcision; female genital cutting; female genital mutilation (FGM); leadership; women’s human rights Copyright: ©2014 Abuya. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Noncommercial Attribution license (CC BY-NC 4.0), which allows for unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and adaptation, provided that the original author and source are credited.
    [Show full text]
  • FGM, Including a Consideration of the Consequences That the Mutilation Has on the Quality of Life of Women and Girls Who Have Experienced the Procedure
    Betraying Their Daughters: Women’s Roles in Female Genital Mutilation Ashley Kim Stewart © REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly Development and International Relations Aalborg University, Denmark June 2009 “If Genital Mutilation were a problem affecting men, the matter would long be settled.” - Waris Dirie 1 ABSTRACT This project begins with a brief outline of the perspectives of both sides of the female genital mutilation debate. It then explores more fully the position of the people who oppose the practice of FGM, including a consideration of the consequences that the mutilation has on the quality of life of women and girls who have experienced the procedure. It is also important to offer some balance to the anti-FGM side of the debate, to truly understand why it is done, instead of simply criticising the fact that it is done. So this is followed by a consideration of FGM as a cultural issue, how it relates to values, religious systems and beliefs (including both superstitions and cultural beliefs, and ones relating to health), its role in marriage politics and aesthetics, and finally the economic reasons for its continuance across such a wide variety of African cultures. The reason why such a macro perspective was chosen is that it is important not only to get a broad overview of why FGM is performed, as well as an idea of how complex and interwoven the practice is with the identity of the peoples who perform it, but also to situate the phenomenon in its global context. In order to understand why genital mutilation is still so prevalent, it is important to understand what measures have already been taken to attempt to eliminate it, from international policy through to community-level campaigns.
    [Show full text]
  • Representations of Female Mutilation (Fgm)
    TALKING TABOO: REPRESENTATIONS OF FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION (FGM) IN FEMINIST DEBATES, HUMAN RIGHTS DISCOURSE & THE MEDIA By Maroushka F. Kanywani Graduate Program in Communications McGill University Montreal April 2002 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements ofthe degree ofMaster ofArts. © Maroushka F. Kanywani, 2002 National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisisitons et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A DN4 Ottawa ON K1A DN4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 0-612-85861-8 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 0-612-85861-8 The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts from it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou aturement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Canada Abstract Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has been a tough topic to discuss in both the local and global spheres. In the past twenty years however, a space has been created for it in the public consciousness.
    [Show full text]
  • The Beliefs in the Necessity of Circumcising Women Are Remarkably Similar Among Many African and Arab Societies. Female Virginit
    13 FEMALE EXCISION: TilE FEMINIST CONUNDRUM Claire Lamb The beliefs in the necessity of circumcising women are remarkably similar among many African and Arab societies. Female virginity and chastity are important values in traditional African-Arab cultures. Virginity, inextricably linked with purity and female chastity, reflects the moral quality of a woman's entire family. The surgical procedures collectively known as female circumcision! are thought to serve this end by attenuating or eliminating sexual desire. Defenders of the practice insist that an intact clitoris stimulates hypersexual appetites that provoke women into making unlimited sexual demands that can only be satisfied by promiscuous and illicit behavior bringing shame to family and community. Excising and/or infibulation are regarded as necessary means to keep the young girl pure and the married woman faithful. It is thought as vital to protect the girl from not only herself, but society as well. Supporters of the practice are convinced that the ritual cements social and political cohesion among communities. Identification with one's culture or lineage group is important to those families who want their children fully accepted into their community. Among many Sierra Leoneans, circumcision is defended by elders as a "social leveller" as it is performed on all females irrespective of socio-economic status, education or religious background, believing this will maintain equality.2 For many Afro-Arab societies the practice is historically embedded in complex definitions of masculinity and femininity. For example, the Dagon and Bambara of Mali believe human beings at birth possess both male and female souls. The boy's "female" soul is in the prepuce, the girls' "male" soul in the clitoris.
    [Show full text]
  • Painful Discourses: Borders, Regions, and Representations of Female
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2006 Painful Discourses: Borders, Regions, and Representations of Female Circumcision from Africa to America Tameka Latrece Cage Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Cage, Tameka Latrece, "Painful Discourses: Borders, Regions, and Representations of Female Circumcision from Africa to America" (2006). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 905. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/905 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. PAINFUL DISCOURSES: BORDERS, REGIONS, AND REPRESENTATIONS OF FEMALE CIRCUMCISION FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by Tameka L. Cage B.A., Dillard University, 1999 December 2006 Acknowledgements Thanks to my committee: John Lowe, Carolyn Ware, Joyce Jackson, Femi Euba, and Mariano Sana. Special, sincere thanks to John Lowe for being an outstanding mentor, guide, and wall of great support in my completion of this project. To my family for their unwavering support of everything I do: my mother, Cynthia Williams Cage, my aunts, Marilyn Denise Jack and Pamela Bedford, my sister Lateisha S. Cage, my father, Willie L.
    [Show full text]