An Ethnography of Diversity and Flexibility Around Female Circumcision and Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Case of a Local Community Response to the Abolition Movement in Kenya

This chapter takes as a case study a society in Kenya which strongly maintains FC (female circumcision) or FGM/C (female genital mutilation/cutting). It will depict the issue of FGM/C from the perspective of the people involved, the women themselves who may or may not want the procedure, their parents and their partners. Through ethnographic descriptions that make the most of the narratives, I will clarify how people living within the local society perceive and react to the anti-FGM/C movement and what kind of changes occur in local society in relation to FC or FGM/C. In particular, through a description of people’s reactions to the recent abolition movement, this chapter will demonstrate that even within a single community with a common cultural background, the people involved have diverse values and make diverse choices. Then I will specifically discuss the efficacy and limitations of the powerful and inflexible prescriptions promoted by the international community in its commitment to “zero tolerance” of FGM/C.