Female Circumcision and the Politics of Knowledge

African Women in Imperialist Discourses

AvObioma Nnaemeka

Häftad, Engelska, 2005

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Beskrivning

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.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2005-07-30
Mått:156 x 235 x 18 mm
Vikt:454 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:296
Förlag:Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN:9780897898652

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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.

Recensioner i media

[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.

Innehållsförteckning

INTRODUCTIONThe Challenges of Border-Crossing: African Women and Transnational Feminisms by Obioma NnaemekaCULTURES, SEXUALITIES, AND KNOWLEDGESex and Imperialism in Africa by Nawal El SaadawiAfrican Women, Colonial Discourses, and Imperialist Interventions: Female Circumcision as Impetus by Obioma NnaemekaTranscending the Boundaries of Power and Imperialism: Writing Gender, Constructing Knowledge by Omofolabo Ajayi-SoyinkaBODIES THAT DON'T MATTEROut of Africa: "Our Bodies Ourselves?" by Vicki KirbyWomen'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 KoriehIMPERIAL GAZE AND FICTIONSLibidinal Quicksand: Imperial Fictions and African Femininity by Jude AkudinobiConfronting the Western Gaze by Eloise BrièreTRANSNATIONAL FEMINIST CONTENTIONS: SISTERHOOD AND COALITION POLITICS REVISITEDThe Anti Female Circumcision Campaign Deficit by L. Amede ObioraColonial Discourse and Ethnographic Residuals: The "Female Circumcision" Debate and the Politics of Knowledge by Sondra HaleParallax Sightlines: Alice Walker's Sisterhood and the Key to Dreams by Chimalum NwankwoOvercoming Willful Blindness: Building Egalitarian Multicultural Women's Coalitions by Ange-Marie HancockNotes on ContributorsIndex