Abstract
This study explores the factors addressed in folk psychology in The Gambia for protecting the girl-child from the potential traumatic stress of female genital cutting (FGC). The type and quality of the psychological care was analyzed and compared with research on traumatic stress and principles for crisis and trauma intervention. Thirty-three qualitative indepth interviews were conducted with mothers who had supervised their daughters’ FGC, women who had been circumcised, and professional circumcisers. The findings indicate that the girls have largely managed to handle the potentially traumatic event of FGC. The event is placed in a meaningful system of understanding, and the stress is dealt with in a traditional way that to a great extent follows empirically-based and evidence-based principles of crisis intervention. However, the approach tends to be culturally encoded, based on the local cultural belief system. This puts circumcised individuals in a potentially vulnerable position if they are living outside the homeland’s supportive cultural context, with consequences for psychological and culturally competent FGC health care in exile.
Acknowledgments
This study was funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion. We gratefully acknowledge the support of Mona-Iren Hauge, Geir Borgen, and Neneh Bojang with interviewing in The Gambia. We also thank Elise B Johansen, Gertrud S Hafstad, Per-Olov Michel, and Trond Heir for participating in discussions.
Disclosure
The authors declare no conflicts of interest in this work.