Teaching about Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Africa: complex questions of culture, “development” and human rights

ABSTRACT

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) has risen up the global advocacy agenda and is recognized as an important child-safeguarding issue. The topic crystallizes key debates in my module, Culture and Development in Africa, and enables Geography undergraduates to explore complex intersections of childhood, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity in diverse African communities. In this paper, in light of in my efforts to teach for social transformation, I reflect on the inquiry-based learning approach I adopt and on its potential benefits. Conscious of postcolonial feminist critiques of processes of racialized “Othering”, I discuss dilemmas about how to frame FGM/C and support students’ critical engagement with the conflicting, sometimes confusing, discourses of cultural relativism and universal human rights. I seek to foster independent learning and research skills using a “real world” NGO assignment. Qualitative feedback suggests students develop more in-depth subject-knowledge, reflections on the ethics of “development”, changes in self-theories and gain important skilful practices that may enhance their employability. Linking my teaching to my work with a charity tackling FGM/C has enabled co-learners to regard this as both a cultural practice that affects “distant others”, and as a form of gender-based heteronormative violence and child abuse that has resonance in the local community.

KEYWORDS:

• Inquiry-based learning
• teaching for social transformation
• ethics of development
• gender-based violence
• cultural diversity
• Sub-Saharan Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. I use the terms Majority and Minority Worlds to refer to the global South and global North, respectively, in order to acknowledge that the “majority” of the world’s population and land mass are located in the former. While I recognize that these terms risk obscuring complex and extensive diversities, they nevertheless can help to shift the balance of worldviews that frequently privilege “western” and “northern” perspectives (Punch, 2003).

2. It should be acknowledged that some UK universities run engaging Geography undergraduate fieldclasses to various African countries (see Robson, 2002) and Development Studies undergraduate students at the University of Reading may study abroad in Uganda as part of their degree.

3. Parts of this paper are a synthesis and revision of some of the arguments originally developed in my unpublished project assignment for my Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice, University of Reading which evaluated this method of assessment.