The Twilight of Cutting : African Activism and Life After NGOs

Departing from common treatment of female genital cutting as an African problem to be debated within Western moral and critical publics, this book examines how Ghanaians problematize and materialize cutting as an African concern in which Western reason and governmentality have been implicated since colonialism. It examines the genealogies of activist and governmental efforts to end cutting (including feminist, public health, and legal interventions and cultural reforms) and the forms of rule, subjectivity, and positioning they produce. It attends to the social concerns and ethical dilemmas of women and men who have been most engaged in and affected by them. Ghanaian opposition to NGOs does not take the shape in the continuation of the practice, as they accommodate NGO platforms, but critique what they leave unaddressed. They question extractive governance that takes without giving and disidentify with the legal rationality of sovereign violence that punishes without caring. They desire governance based on ethics of relationality and mutual responsibility. This ethnography challenges and reinvigorates anthropological and feminist theories about neoliberal punitive rationality and feminist love of law, efficacy and unintended consequences of NGO interventions, minimalist biopolitics of saving lives, and postcolonial abandonment in the postcolonial world. It also charts a path for working against the analytical and political common sense by cultivating sensibilities on the basis of disidentification and immanent critique. The Last Three Decades Have Witnessed A Proliferation Of Ngos Engaging In New Campaigns To End The Practice Of Female Genital Cutting Across Africa. These Campaigns Have In Turn Spurred New Institutions, Discourses, And Political Projects, Bringing About Unexpected Social Transformations, Both Intended And Unintended. Consequently, Cutting Is Waning Across The Continent. At The Same Time, These Endings Are Being Disavowed By Cross-continental Discourses That Argue That Cutting Has Become An Object Of A Neocolonial, Racist Gaze And Western Interventionist Zeal. What Does It Mean To Say That While Cutting Is Ending, The Western Discourse Surrounding It Is On The Rise? And What Kind Of A Feminist Anthropology Is Needed In Such A Moment? The Twilight Of Cutting Examines These And Other Questions From The Vantage Point Of Ghanaian Feminist And Reproductive Health Ngos That Have Organized Campaigns Against Cutting For Over Thirty Years. The Book Looks At These Ngos Not As Solutions But As Sites Of 'problematization.' The Purpose Of Understanding Ghanaian Campaigns, Their Transnational And Regional Encounters, And The Forms Of Governmentality They Produce Is Not To Charge Them With Providing Answers To The Question, How Do We End Cutting? Instead, It Is To Account For Their Work, Their Historicity, The Life Worlds And Subjectivities They Engender, And The Modes Of Reflection, Imminent Critique, And Opposition They Set In Motion--provided By Publisher. Preface : Coming To Questions -- Introduction : Governmentality Against Itself -- Colonial Reason, Sensibility, And The Ethnographic Style -- Making Harmful Traditional Practices -- When Cutting Did And Did Not End -- Mistaken By Design : Biopolitics In Practice -- Blood Loss And Slow Harm In Times Of Scarcity -- The Feminist Fetish : Legal Advocacy -- Against Sovereign Violence. Saida Hodžić. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "The last three decades have witnessed a proliferation of NGOs engaging in new campaigns to end the practice of female genital cutting across Africa. These campaigns have in turn spurred new institutions, discourses, and political projects, bringing about unexpected social transformations, both intended and unintended. Consequently, cutting is waning across the continent. At the same time, these endings are being disavowed by cross-continental discourses that argue that cutting has become an object of a neocolonial, racist gaze and Western interventionist zeal. What does it mean to say that while cutting is ending, the Western discourse surrounding it is on the rise? And what kind of a feminist anthropology is needed in such a moment? The Twilight of Cutting examines these and other questions from the vantage point of Ghanaian feminist and reproductive health NGOs that have organized campaigns against cutting for over thirty years. The book looks at these NGOs not as solutions but as sites of 'problematization.' The purpose of understanding Ghanaian campaigns, their transnational and regional encounters, and the forms of governmentality they produce is not to charge them with providing answers to the question, how do we end cutting? Instead, it is to account for their work, their historicity, the life worlds and subjectivities they engender, and the modes of reflection, imminent critique, and opposition they set in motion" ... Provided by publisher "The last three decades have witnessed a proliferation of NGOs engaging in new campaigns to end the practice of female genital cutting across Africa. These campaigns have in turn spurred new institutions, discourses, and political projects, bringing about unexpected social transformations, both intended and unintended. Consequently, cutting is waning across the continent. At the same time, these endings are being disavowed by cross-continental discourses that argue that cutting has become an object of a neocolonial, racist gaze and Western interventionist zeal. What does it mean to say that while cutting is ending, the Western discourse surrounding it is on the rise? And what kind of a feminist anthropology is needed in such a moment? The Twilight of Cutting examines these and other questions from the vantage point of Ghanaian feminist and reproductive health NGOs that have organized campaigns against cutting for over thirty years. The book looks at these NGOs not as solutions but as sites of 'problematization.' The purpose of understanding Ghanaian campaigns, their transnational and regional encounters, and the forms of governmentality they produce is not to charge them with providing answers to the question, how do we end cutting? Instead, it is to account for their work, their historicity, the life worlds and subjectivities they engender, and the modes of reflection, imminent critique, and opposition they set in motion"--Site web de l'éditeur "The last three decades have witnessed a proliferation of NGOs engaging in new campaigns to end the practice of female genital cutting across Africa. These campaigns have in turn spurred new institutions, discourses, and political projects, bringing about unexpected social transformations, both intended and unintended. Consequently, cutting is waning across the continent. At the same time, these endings are being disavowed by cross-continental discourses that argue that cutting has become an object of a neocolonial, racist gaze and Western interventionist zeal. What does it mean to say that while cutting is ending, the Western discourse surrounding it is on the rise? And what kind of a feminist anthropology is needed in such a moment? The Twilight of Cutting examines these and other questions from the vantage point of Ghanaian feminist and reproductive health NGOs that have organized campaigns against cutting for over thirty years. The book looks at these NGOs not as solutions but as sites of 'problematization.' The purpose of understanding Ghanaian campaigns, their transnational and regional encounters, and the forms of governmentality they produce is not to charge them with providing answers to the question, how do we end cutting? Instead, it is to account for their work, their historicity, the life worlds and subjectivities they engender, and the modes of reflection, imminent critique, and opposition they set in motion"-- Résumé de l'éditeur The last three decades have witnessed a proliferation of nongovernmental organizations engaging in new campaigns to end the practice of female genital cutting across Africa. These campaigns have in turn spurred new institutions, discourses, and political projects, bringing about unexpected social transformations, both intended and unintended. Consequently, cutting is waning across the continent. At the same time, these endings are misrecognized and disavowed by public and scholarly discourses across the political spectrum.

What does it mean to say that while cutting is ending, the Western discourse surrounding it is on the rise? And what kind of a feminist anthropology is needed in such a moment? The Twilight of Cutting examines these and other questions from the vantage point of Ghanaian feminist and reproductive health NGOs that have organized campaigns against cutting for over thirty years. The book looks at these NGOs not as solutions but as sites of “problematization.” The purpose of understanding these Ghanaian campaigns, their transnational and regional encounters, and the forms of governmentality they produce is not to charge them with providing answers to the question, how do we end cutting? Instead, it is to account for their work, their historicity, the life worlds and subjectivities they engender, and the modes of reflection, imminent critique, and opposition they set in motion. The last three decades have witnessed a proliferation of nongovernmental organizations engaging in new campaigns to end the practice of female genital cutting across Africa. These campaigns have in turn spurred new institutions, discourses, and political projects, bringing about unexpected social transformations, both intended and unintended. Consequently, cutting is waning across the continent. At the same time, these endings are misrecognized and disavowed by public and scholarly discourses across the political spectrum. What does it mean to say that while cutting is ending, the Western discourse surrounding it is on the rise? And what kind of a feminist anthropology is needed in such a moment? The Twilight of Cutting examines these and other questions from the vantage point of Ghanaian feminist and reproductive health NGOs that have organized campaigns against cutting for over thirty years. The book looks at these NGOs not as solutions but as sites of “problematization.” The purpose of understanding these Ghanaian campaigns, their transnational and regional encounters, and the forms of governmentality they produce is not to charge them with providing answers to the question, how do we end cutting? Instead, it is to account for their work, their historicity, the life worlds and subjectivities they engender, and the modes of reflection, imminent critique, and opposition they set in motion. CONTENTS Preface: Coming to Questions Introduction: Governmentality against Itself 1. Colonial Reason, Sensibility, and the Ethnographic Style 2. Making Harmful Traditional Practices 3. When Cutting Did and Did Not End 4. Mistaken by Design: Biopolitics in Practice 5. Blood Loss and Slow Harm in Times of Scarcity 6. The Feminist Fetish: Legal Advocacy 7. Against Sovereign Violence Epilogue Acknowledgments Acronyms Notes References Index