Dear All, I have been reading with avid interest some of the stimulating exchanges related to the book, Female "Circumcision" edited by Ylva Hernlund and Bettina Shell-Duncan. As one of the contributors to the volume, and also an African woman who has undergone initiation and excision, I strongly recommend the book for anyone interested in obtaining a broader and richer understanding of various perspectives on the issue from various geographic areas. And for those who are genuinely interested, my own contribution specifically concerns historical, symbolic and cultural dimensions of female (and male) genital cutting among my own ethnic group, the Kono (who are closely related to the Mandinka), in eastern Sierra Leone. I greatly admire the courage and determination of Amie and many others on this exchange who oppose "FGM" for whatever reasons, however, I must say that my own experience was on the whole positive and tremendously inspiring. Although I do not wish to minimise the experiences of other women, personally, I have not suffered from any long term gynaecological, sexual or psychosocial dysfunction and I take serious issue with much of what passes as scientific evidence of negative long term effects of clitoridectomy and excision specifically. I also want to add (because of the use of terms like "barbarism", "oppression", "FGM") that when we parrot western feminist paradigms in analysing female "circumcision" we miss a great opportunity to understand the complexities of sex and gender dynamics in our own societies, specifically the historical importance of female ideology and symbols of power that abound in these rituals. We do not need to support the practice today and circumcise our own daughters in future. However, there's so much we could learn by rethinking and revaluating the significance of the tradition to our grandmothers, great-grandmothers and female ancestors. As an anthropologist, it is in this area I feel that I can contribute my own two-pence to this entire "debate", and hope to remind us of that most important lesson we learn in the "bush" - respect for our female elders past and present. I hope to engage some of you in further discussion after you have had an opportunity to glance at some of the articles in this new book. I would like to believe that as "educated" African women and men we can continue to dialogue on these and other important social issues without castigating eachother and using disparaging language against our own. Let the debate continue, this is the only way we will gain valuable insights from all sides and hopefully, come up with suitable policies for change. Best, Fuambai Ahmadu Department of Anthropology London School of Economics _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------