DAVIS 2004 - RESPONSES TO NJAMBI'S...: BETWEEN MORAL OUTRAGE AND CULTURAL RELATIVISM Flashcards Preview

7 Gender Culture Sex & Crime > DAVIS 2004 - RESPONSES TO NJAMBI'S...: BETWEEN MORAL OUTRAGE AND CULTURAL RELATIVISM > Flashcards

Flashcards in DAVIS 2004 - RESPONSES TO NJAMBI'S...: BETWEEN MORAL OUTRAGE AND CULTURAL RELATIVISM Deck (20)
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1
Q

Davis =

A

feminist

2
Q

Female circumcision among African women evokes contradictory feelings in Davis, as with many feminists (2):

A

Anger at patriarchal structures, which control women’s bodies and sexuality

Curiosity about why women defend and even embrace a practice which is painful and dangerous to their health

3
Q

Western feminists see it as their mission to ‘save’ their African sisters from the practice as it is viewed as

A

female oppression

barbaric relic of traditional societies

4
Q

Western feminists see it as their mission to ‘save’ their African sisters from the practice - causes women who engage in cutting to…

A

passive and ignorant victims of ‘culture’

5
Q

‘Cultural relativism’ position assumes that the practice of cutting has relevance and value within a specific culture and that outsiders should be tolerant and wary about making judgement about, let alone interventions in, practices outside their…

A

own culture

6
Q

‘Cultural relativism’ position encourages an indifference to the suffering experienced by women and girls who undergo genital cutting and a reluctance to engage with issues outside one’s own cultural domain. Such a position provides little basis for forming alliances across…

A

national, ethnic or religious borders

7
Q

Njambi’s critique of feminist debates on female circumcision in Africa - own experiences as a circumcised woman and as a US-based scholar - she problematises the way African women are represented in…

A

feminist anti-FGM discourse

8
Q

Culture is always and everywhere shaped by power relations and involves dissenting voices and…

A

conflicting interests

9
Q

A cultural relativistic position toward genital cutting reifies the significance of the practice, ignores the political context in which it takes place, and silences the voices of those within the culture who..

A

oppose it

10
Q

Cultural relativistic position can result in a denial of the necessity of engaging in conversations across the borders of…

A

culture

11
Q

Cultural relativistic position can result in a denial of the necessity of engaging in conversations across the borders of culture - GIVEN CURRENT PATTERNS OF MIGRATION, GENITAL CUTTING CANNOT BE LOCALISED IN…

A

AFRICA

12
Q

Genital cutting has already crossed national borders, making transcultural conversations a …

A

necessity rather than an option

13
Q

James and Robertson 2002 - provide examples of how ‘politics of engagement’ might take shape around the issue of

A

genital cutting

14
Q

James and Robertson 2002 - like Njambi, the authors address the objections of African activists toward western feminists: that they have …(4)

A

taken genital cutting out of context

ignored the priorities of African women

spoken ‘for’ African women

ignored the priorities of African women

15
Q

Davis argues that neither moral outrage nor cultural relativism are adequate responses by western feminists to cutting. Cutting may not be the primary issue facing African women, but it is an issue which deserves…

A

serious attention

16
Q

FGM - obscures the agency of women who …

A

participate in the practice

17
Q

Genital surgery - medicalises the…

A

practice

18
Q

Circumcision - underplays…

A

risks, pain and impairment

19
Q

Njambi - Africa become the ‘Land of…

A

Torture’

20
Q

Njambi - West is the ‘Land of…

A

Freedom and Liberty’