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

by Obioma Nnaemeka

Overview

Scholars from a wide range of fields, many of them African but all working in the US, do not repeat their previous condemnation of female circumcision nor dwell on its nature, history, and practice. Rather they speak to the complexity of the imperialist project by identifying the problem as emanating from the West, and exposing how condescension towards Africans by women of color from the US and Asia mimics the imperial arrogance of white explorers, imperialists, and colonizers. The hierarchy upon which the imperial project rests, they say, is not bipolar, but multilayered and complex; many of their essays scrutinize the unsolicited interventions by two feminists of color, Alice Walker and Pratibha Parmer. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313068744
Publisher:	ABC-CLIO, Incorporated
Publication date:	07/30/2005
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	498 KB

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

Val^D'erie 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."

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."

Val^D'erie 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."

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."

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." - Journal of African History

From the Publisher