Open AccessFemale genital cutting and the politics of Islamicate practices in Egypt: debating development and the religious/ secular divide
Author(s) -
An Van Raemdonck
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
avrug-bulletin/afrika focus
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 0772-084X
pISSN - 0772-0793
DOI - 10.21825/af.v30i1.4990
Subject(s) - conceptualization , islam , gender studies , sociology , ethnography , politics , human sexuality , relation (database) , female circumcision , social science , anthropology , political science , law , history , medicine , gynecology , archaeology , database , artificial intelligence , computer science
My PhD dissertation examined discourses on Female Genital Cutting (FGC) in contemporary Egypt, particularly concerning the relation between FGC and religion. FGC is practiced by both Muslims and Christians and Egypt is among the countries with the highest prevalence rates. Through ethnographic research, the study analysed the vernacularization of transnational activism as an important intervention into local cultural and social debates on gender, sexuality and family norms, in addition to understandings of Islam, Muslim-Christian relations and concepts of race, nation and progress. I argue that FGC is best characterized as an Islamicate practice. A narrow, reifying conceptualization of religion precludes lived understandings of the relation of FGC to Islam and subsequently, precludes more profound social and cultural debate on gendered practices. Key words: FGC, religion, Islam, Egypt, critical development studies