Female Circumcision and the Politics of Knowledge: African Women in Imperialist Discourses

by Obioma Nnaemeka

Overview

Heated debates about and insurgencies against female circumcision are symptoms of a disease emanating from a mindset that produced hierarchies of humans, conquered colonies, and built empires. The loss of colonies and empires does not in any way mitigate the ideological underpinnings of empire-building and the knowledge construction that subtends it. The mindset finds its articulation at points of coalescence. Female circumcision provided a point of coalescence and impetus for this articulation. Insisting that the hierarchy on which the imperialist project rests is not bipolar but multi-layered and more complex, the contributions in this volume demonstrate how imperialist discourses complicate issues of gender, race, and history. Nnaemeka gives voice to the silenced and marginalized, and creates space for them to participate in knowledge construction and theory making.

The authors in this volume trace the travels of imperial and colonial discourses from antecedents in anthropology, travel writings, and missionary discourse, to modern configurations in films, literature, and popular culture. The contributors interrogate foreign, or Western, modus operandi and interventions in the so-called Third World and show how the resistance they generate can impede development work and undermine the true collaboration and partnership necessary to promote a transnational feminist agenda. With great clarity and in simple, accessible language, the contributors present complex ideas and arguments which hold significant implications for transnational feminism and development.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780897898645
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/30/2005
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Obioma Nnaemeka is Professor of French, Women's Studies, and African/African Diaspora Studies and Director of the Women's Studies Program at Indiana University, Indianapolis. She is also the President of the Association of African Women Scholars. Professor Nnaemeka has published extensively on literature, women's/gender studies, development, and African/African Diaspora studies.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
The Challenges of Border-Crossing: African Women and Transnational Feminisms by Obioma Nnaemeka
CULTURES, SEXUALITIES, AND KNOWLEDGE
Sex and Imperialism in Africa by Nawal El Saadawi
African Women, Colonial Discourses, and Imperialist Interventions: Female Circumcision as Impetus by Obioma Nnaemeka
Transcending the Boundaries of Power and Imperialism: Writing Gender, Constructing Knowledge by Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka
BODIES THAT DON'T MATTER
Out of Africa: "Our Bodies Ourselves?" by Vicki Kirby
Women's Rights, Bodies, and Identities: The Limits of Universalism and the Legal Debate around Excision in France by Francoise Lionnet
"Other" Bodies: Western Feminism, Race, and Representation in Female Circumcision Discourse by Chima Korieh
IMPERIAL GAZE AND FICTIONS
Libidinal Quicksand: Imperial Fictions and African Femininity by Jude Akudinobi
Confronting the Western Gaze by Eloise Brière
TRANSNATIONAL FEMINIST CONTENTIONS: SISTERHOOD AND COALITION POLITICS REVISITED
The Anti Female Circumcision Campaign Deficit by L. Amede Obiora
Colonial Discourse and Ethnographic Residuals: The "Female Circumcision" Debate and the Politics of Knowledge by Sondra Hale
Parallax Sightlines: Alice Walker's Sisterhood and the Key to Dreams by Chimalum Nwankwo
Overcoming Willful Blindness: Building Egalitarian Multicultural Women's Coalitions by Ange-Marie Hancock
Notes on Contributors
Index

What People are Saying About This

Diana Tietjens Meyers

"Obioma Nnaemeka has assembled a vital collection of essays that breathes new life into debates over cultural imperialism, cultural authenticity, and the authority to speak about and/or for women. The collection issues a ringing affirmation of the agency of African women and an uncompromising call for equal power in transnational feminist coalitions. Everyone who is troubled by the antimony between universalist morality and cultural relativism should read these important essays."

Susan H. Perry

"A tour de force, this book brilliantly explores the power of localism as a driving force in the debate on female circumcision. This essential reading on one of the most controversial issues of our time is a veritable toolbox for feminists and development specialists seeking solid theoretical grounding."

Valérie Orlando

"Scholar Obioma Nnaemeka has assembled an impellent and brilliant body of essays that radically engages Western notions about African female subjectivity and agency. These insightful, ground-breaking essays by top-notch scholars in a variety of fields encourage readers to build new trajectories that promote a true transnational feminism."

Valerie Orlando

"Scholar Obioma Nnaemeka has assembled an impellent and brilliant body of essays that radically engages Western notions about African female subjectivity and agency. These insightful, ground-breaking essays by top-notch scholars in a variety of fields encourage readers to build new trajectories that promote a true transnational feminism."

Janice Boddy

"This inspired collaboration of scholars from Africa and the West provides a sustained critique of imperialist discourses surrounding female circumcision. Writing under the banner of transnational feminism, its authors move us beyond judgemental confrontation towards an appreciation of context and the value of strategic alliances based on mutual respect. Bravo!"

Editorial Reviews

[T]his thought-provoking volume—which probes the bases of ethnocentric 'value-free' and ahistorical approaches to social issues—provides a valuable corrective to the dominant discours on African women's practice of female circumcision.” —Jourbanal of African History

From the Publisher