Feminist Activism for the Abolition of FGC in Sudan

FEMINIST ACTIVISM FOR THE ABOLITION OF FGC IN SUDAN Ellen Gruenbaum So we must deal with female circumcision ourselves. It is our culture, we understand it, when to fight against it and how, because this is the process of liberation. —Nawal El Saadawi, 1980 INTRODUCTION Aquarter century ago Egyptian activist Nawal El Saadawi chastised foreign anti-female genital mutiliation (FGM) campaigners who used them-helping -us rhetoric to practice what she called "colonialism in disguise" (1980). To women of the regions where forms of FGC (FGC) are practiced, the Western feminist leaders who displayed ethnocentric polemics to denounce the harmful traditional practices were attacking the right ofAfrican and Middle Eastern women to determine the targets and timing oftheir struggles. PrivilegingWestern feminist discourse, such outsiders essentialized African and Middle Eastern women's lives, making the condition of their genitals the most salient feature, demonstrating remarkable insensitivity and neglecting the mutual respect due them in the context ofthe global sisterhood feminists claimed to espouse. In earlier writing, I have argued for cultural contextualization of these practices and respect for local dynamics ofchange efforts, eschewing extremes of both ethnocentric condemnation and passive absolute relativism (Gruenbaum 1982, 1996, 2001). Several other researchers, such as Rose Oldfield Hayes (1975), Janice Boddy (1982, 1998), Soheir Morsy (1991, 1993), and Marie Bassili Assaad (1980), contributed to this cultural research, articulating nuanced JOURNAL OF MIDDLE EAST WOMEN'S STUDIES VoL 1, No. 2 (Spring 2005). O 2005 90 «s JOURNAL OF MIDDLE EAST WOMEN'S STUDIES understandings without advocating the practices. This stance recognizes the leading role of the African and Middle Eastern women in their own feminist struggle and the supporting role of allies in the international community. It recognizes the difficulties faced by African and Middle Eastern women attempting , as Gwedolyn Mikell says, to simultaneously affirm their identities in a context of global oppression while at the same time "transforming societal notions of gender and familial roles" (1997:1). Mikell argues that African feminism is shaped by resistance to Western hegemony as well as being rooted in cultural legacies ofAfrica (1997:4), both ofwhich are profoundly evident in the debates over FGC, as the work ofAhmadu (2000), Abusharaf (1998, 2000, 2001), Mikell (1997), and others demonstrate . Writers who have taken strong stands against the practices with what I would argue is insufficient attention to the contexts of women's lives—e.g., Lightfoot-Klein (1989), Hosken (1980, 1982), Walker (1992), Walker and Parmar (1993), and Daly (1978)—contribute to the climate of ethnocentric Western hegemony, whether it is feminist or not, provoking resentment and even backlash. Stanlie James and Claire Robertson (eds., 2002) provided the most comprehensive review to date of the ways in which the anti-FGM "polemics " of the U.S. writers, in particular, have damaged the sense of respect for "transnational sisterhood" on this issue.1 Robertson characterizes such Western representations of FGC as "reducing all ofAfrica to one uncivilized place; reducing African women to the status of their genitals, presumed to be infibulated, and Africans to being sadistic torturers or victims; and reducing all FGC to its worst form, infibulation" (2002:60). El Saadawi (1980a, 1980b) not only challenged outsiders to find a respectful and useful channel for their outrage about practices that harm girls and women, but also challenged the feminists of the affected countries not to accept injustices passively but to make strategic choices for the process of liberation. There had been a tendency in the past for African and Middle Eastern scholars, hoping to mute racist anti-African, anti-Arab, or anti-Muslim biased responses, to avoid the topic. But in the past 25 years, African and Middle Eastern women have taken the lead in researching and addressing the issue, e.g., Abdalla (1982), Abusharaf (1998, 2000, 2001), Dorkenoo (1994), El Dareer (1982), and Toubia (1985, 1993, 1994). Liberation has a long agenda, and deciding when and how to pursue change in FGC has proved difficult. Elsewhere, I have argued that ending these practices would require challenging women's subordination (Gruenbaum 1982, 2001). Improvement of other aspects ofwomen's lives through greater ELLEN GRUENBAUM œ 91 education, autonomy, respect, and economic security—in short, women's empowerment—would allow women...