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Making the mark : gender, identity, and genital cutting / Miroslava Prazak.

by Prazak, Miroslava, author.

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Athens, Ohio : Ohio University Press, [2016]

Female circumcision -- Kenya.

Circumcision -- Kenya.

Kuria (African people) -- Rites and ceremonies.

Kuria (African people) -- Social life and customs.

9780896803091 (hc ; alk. paper)

0896803090 (hc ; alk. paper)

9780896803107 (pb ; alk. paper) :

0896803104 (pb ; alk. paper)

Research in international studies. Africa series ; no. 93.

xix, 311 pages : illustrations, map ; 23 cm.

Introduction -- Trouble with witchcraft -- Boys lead -- Girls follow -- Something different -- Consoling, feasting, and coming out -- Talk, talk, talk -- Where do we go from here? -- Epilogue -- Appendix : Bwirege circumcision sets.

Why do female genital cutting practices persist? How does circumcision affect the rights of girls in a culture where initiation forms the linchpin of the ritual cycle at the core of defining gender, identity, and social and political status? In Making the Mark, Miroslava Prazak follows the practice of genital cutting through the lives and activities of community members in a rural Kenyan farming society as they decide whether or not to participate in the tradition. In an ethnography twenty years in the making, Prazak weaves multiple Kuria perspectives-those of girls, boys, family members, circumcisers, political and religious leaders-into a riveting account. Though many books have been published on the topic of genital cutting, this is one of the few ethnographies to give voice to evolving perspectives of practitioners, especially through a period of intense anticutting campaigning on the part of international NGOs, local activists, and donor organizations. Prazak also examines the cultural challenges that complicate the human-rights anti-FGM stance. Making the Mark examines the influences that shape and change female genital cutting over time, presenting a rich mosaic of the voices contributing to the debate over this life-altering ritual.

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