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Postcolonial feminist body studies

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Date Issued:
2007
Summary:
In this thesis, I argue that all bodies are material-semiotic entities, produced by both natural and cultural processes. Western anti-FGM discourse is predicated upon the belief that the body must be kept in its "natural" or "pristine" state, and that any practice which violates the body's natural "perfection" is mutilation. Implied by this discourse is the false notion that Western bodies are given and left unaltered. By drawing comparisons between Western genital practices and non-Western genital practices, I undermine the ideology that erases the working of culture on Western bodies while highlighting the "mutilating" powers exercised on the bodies of Others. Current imperialist hegemony perpetuates the view of African women as passive victims of barbaric tradition in need of rescuing by Western liberated women. We must, instead, work toward theories that account for differences in experience and history, rather than those which posit universal understandings of patriarchy and domination.
Title: Postcolonial feminist body studies: the case of female genital practices.
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Name(s): Kennedy, Amanda
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Thesis
Issuance: multipart monograph
Date Issued: 2007
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic
electronic resource
Extent: vii, 67 leaves : ill.
Language(s): English
Summary: In this thesis, I argue that all bodies are material-semiotic entities, produced by both natural and cultural processes. Western anti-FGM discourse is predicated upon the belief that the body must be kept in its "natural" or "pristine" state, and that any practice which violates the body's natural "perfection" is mutilation. Implied by this discourse is the false notion that Western bodies are given and left unaltered. By drawing comparisons between Western genital practices and non-Western genital practices, I undermine the ideology that erases the working of culture on Western bodies while highlighting the "mutilating" powers exercised on the bodies of Others. Current imperialist hegemony perpetuates the view of African women as passive victims of barbaric tradition in need of rescuing by Western liberated women. We must, instead, work toward theories that account for differences in experience and history, rather than those which posit universal understandings of patriarchy and domination.
Identifier: 314712569 (oclc), 11616 (digitool), FADT11616 (IID), fau:1348 (fedora)
Note(s): by Amanda Kennedy.
Thesis (B.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, Honors College, 2007.
Bibliography: leaves 63-67.
Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2007. Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subject(s): Feminist theory
Postmodernism
Female circumcision
Feminism and science
Held by: FBoU FAUER
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/11616
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Host Institution: FAU

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