DAVIS 2004 - RESPONSES TO NJAMBI'S...: BETWEEN MORAL OUTRAGE AND CULTURAL RELATIVISM Flashcards
Davis =
feminist
Female circumcision among African women evokes contradictory feelings in Davis, as with many feminists (2):
Anger at patriarchal structures, which control women’s bodies and sexuality
Curiosity about why women defend and even embrace a practice which is painful and dangerous to their health
Western feminists see it as their mission to ‘save’ their African sisters from the practice as it is viewed as
female oppression
barbaric relic of traditional societies
Western feminists see it as their mission to ‘save’ their African sisters from the practice - causes women who engage in cutting to…
passive and ignorant victims of ‘culture’
‘Cultural relativism’ position assumes that the practice of cutting has relevance and value within a specific culture and that outsiders should be tolerant and wary about making judgement about, let alone interventions in, practices outside their…
own culture
‘Cultural relativism’ position encourages an indifference to the suffering experienced by women and girls who undergo genital cutting and a reluctance to engage with issues outside one’s own cultural domain. Such a position provides little basis for forming alliances across…
national, ethnic or religious borders
Njambi’s critique of feminist debates on female circumcision in Africa - own experiences as a circumcised woman and as a US-based scholar - she problematises the way African women are represented in…
feminist anti-FGM discourse
Culture is always and everywhere shaped by power relations and involves dissenting voices and…
conflicting interests
A cultural relativistic position toward genital cutting reifies the significance of the practice, ignores the political context in which it takes place, and silences the voices of those within the culture who..
oppose it
Cultural relativistic position can result in a denial of the necessity of engaging in conversations across the borders of…
culture
Cultural relativistic position can result in a denial of the necessity of engaging in conversations across the borders of culture - GIVEN CURRENT PATTERNS OF MIGRATION, GENITAL CUTTING CANNOT BE LOCALISED IN…
AFRICA
Genital cutting has already crossed national borders, making transcultural conversations a …
necessity rather than an option
James and Robertson 2002 - provide examples of how ‘politics of engagement’ might take shape around the issue of
genital cutting
James and Robertson 2002 - like Njambi, the authors address the objections of African activists toward western feminists: that they have …(4)
taken genital cutting out of context
ignored the priorities of African women
spoken ‘for’ African women
ignored the priorities of African women
Davis argues that neither moral outrage nor cultural relativism are adequate responses by western feminists to cutting. Cutting may not be the primary issue facing African women, but it is an issue which deserves…
serious attention
