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Empathy And Rage
Editors
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ISBN: 978-0-9555079-4-6 | 224 pages | Weight: 0.377kg | Paperback | | Rights: World
Categories: African | Black Interest | Critical Essays / Criticism |
Synopsis
Empathy and Rage - these words bracket a spectrum of feelings people confront when they think about the millions of women and girls who have undergone bolokoli, takhoundi, tukore, or gudni'in - names in local languages for a procedure that mutilates women's private parts or Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
This pioneering collection discusses representations of female genital mutilation as a theme in literary art. The contributors - both scholars and activists - join together to analyse African and African-American literature in the context of the debate between those who see FGM as a time-honoured tradition and those who recognise it as a human rights abuse.
Key Selling Points
- This collection is a first - scholars analyse this subject as a theme in literature.
- In an unusual symbiosis, activism and scholarship join hands to hasten the end of this egregious human rights abuse.
- The collection examines representations in creative writing by African and African- Americans including Nura Abdi, Mariama Barry, Calixthe Beyala, Osman Conteh, Waris Dirie, Nuruddin Farah, Fatou Keita, Fadumo Korn, Ahmadou Kourouma, Christian Mambou, Nawal El
Saadawi, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Awa Thiam and Alice Walker. et al. - In their efforts to end FGM, the governments of Germany, the UK, Italy and the European Union (Brussels) have drawn on the expertise of Tobe Levin who has written many articles and chapters for books on FGM.
- Contributors to the collection include: Anne V. Adams, Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, Muthoni Mathai, Marianne Sarkis and a translation from the French of contributor Herzberger-Fofana's obituary placing it in the context of the work as a dedication to Sembene Ousmane, a true African pioneer of the exposure of this practice through film.
Recommendations
"A thorough discussion and education on the subject of female circumcision-whether driven by rage, empathy, or engagement-is important. By focusing on creative writing as the site of discussion, this book provides a multifaced education. A must read."-Ngugi wa Thiong'o
"An important collection on an important subject that some misguided cultural nationalists would rather keep wrapped under the silences and perversions of tradition.... It derives its freshness and power from its excavation of representations in the works of African and Diasporan writers."-Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, University of Illinois at Chicago.
About the Editors
Tobe Levin is a Professor at the University of Maryland College in Europe, an adjunct to the University of Frankfurt, and non-resident Fellow, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, Harvard University. Levin became an activist against FGM in 1977 and co-founded FORWARD - Germany, a registered charity modelled on FORWARD UK, in 1998.
Augustine H. Asaah is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Ghana where he teaches African Francophone Literature and has pioneered research into African feminist literature and gender-based violence in African fiction.
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