Rites of Passage from an African Perspective

Since the onset of colonialism and Christian missionary influx in Africa, female circumcision has continued to be a controversial subject. In their endeavour to civilize and Christianize the Africans, the colonial administrators and the missionaries strove to eradicate African practices which they defined as acting as a hindrance to the achievement of their goals. One such custom which irked them was female circumcision.By the 1920s in Kenya, the issue had become a highly contested one particularly in Central Kenya. The missionaries and their Christian converts regarded clitoridectomy as a repugnant heathen custom, a meaningless mutilation of the body and a degradation of the spirit.They came up with a strong medical case against it,pointing out that it caused difficulties at childbirth and was generally unhealthy. They called for a law enactment to eradicate the custom. Although the colonial administrators held the same views on female circumcision due to their concern about the political consequences of such an enactment they settled for a policy of ameriolating the practice by restricting it to the cutting of the clitoris only.This book is good to all institutions in the globe.