An Intimate Rebuke : Female Genital Power in Ritual and Politics in West Africa /

Throughout West African societies, at times of social crises, postmenopausal women--the Mothers--make a ritual appeal to their innate moral authority. The seat of this power is the female genitalia. Wielding branches or pestles, they strip naked and slap their genitals and bare breasts to curse and...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Grillo, Laura S., 1956- (Author)
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: Durham : Duke University Press, 2018.
Series:Book collections on Project MUSE.
Subjects:
Online Access:Full text available:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Table of Contents:
  • 1. Genies, witches, and women : locating female powers
  • 2. Matrifocal morality : FGP and the foundation of "home"
  • 3. Gender and resistance : the "strategic essentialism" of FGP
  • 4. Founding knowledge/binding power : the moral foundations of ethnicity and alliance
  • 5. Women at the checkpoint : challenging the forces of civil war
  • 6. Violation and deployment : FGP in politics in Côte d'Ivoire
  • 7. Memory, memorialization, and morality
  • Conclusion : an intimate rebuke: a local critique in the global postcolony.