FGM in the International Community
The practice of FGM, Female Genital Mutilation or Circumcision violates laws in most countries in Europe and North America. It has been declared internationally as a violation of human rights, often being cited as just an oppressive practice against women. UNICEF and the Human Rights Council work together, changing the political structure and laws of the practicing communities to help eradicate FGM. These policy changes are complimented by NGOs that use many divergent tactics to educate native populations. These NGOs are funded by donations predominantly made by populations that live in countries where FGM is not an ancestral tradition.
An case involving FGM was brought into the living rooms of most American families through the televised trial of Khalid Misri Adem in 2006 in Atlanta, Georgia. This 31-year-old male Ethiopian immigrant was accused and convicted of performing FGM on his 2-year-old daughter. This practice was common in his home country of Ethiopia, in 1990 about 85% of Ethiopian females had undergone this procedure. His trial and eventual conviction caused heated debates about FGM and put pressure on international organizations that were creating measures for eradication such as NGOs and UNICEF. Incidents like this are common within Western communities where immigrants retain their cultural traditions while living in an area that has deemed those traditions illegal.
The incident brought national attention to this international issue of cultural relativism and displacement. Cultural relativism is the view that all beliefs, customs and ethics are relative to the individual’s own cultural context. Therefore a practice such as FGM could be construed as a performance of traditional heritage. However, since this issue has been declared as a violation of human rights by the international community, the international community has declared its eradication a necessity. However, the voices of the communities that practice the tradition are not readily heard in this debate.
Levels of Organized Change: International Networks, NGOs and Musical Activists
International organizations such as UNICEF and Human Rights Organization have been actively involved in eliminating this particular practice since 1997. These international aid organizations lend political support to NGOs that use many divergent tactics to educate native populations in Africa. One of these tactics is the use of music to attract and educate the population. Two artists that are supported by NGOs in two distinctly different countries are Sister Fa of Senegal and Bafing Fal of Mali. They both live outside of their native countries; however have dedicated their lives to being spokespersons for the eradication of Female Genital Mutilation. They are supported by a network of western organizations that support the eradication of this tradition, that are motivated by the desire to relieve the cultural conflicts that occur within their own nations.
Since 1997, there has been international involvement in counteracting FGM through research and social work within native communities as well as changes in public policy. (WHO: fact-sheet) International organizations such as UNICEF and the World Health Organization have declared Female Circumcision, Female Genital Mutilation or Female Genital Cutting a human rights violation. “It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women” In December of 2012, the UN General Assembly stated their goal as eradication of the tradition. These organizations support the institutionalized changes, such as the creation of laws, which are necessary for culture to change.
To facilitate social change, NGOs founded in and funded by countries outside of the African continent work within the native communities. Many NGOs emphasize education, reaching out to religious and political leaders within the community with workshops focused on the dangers of the practice. Certain NGOs have created education campaigns that focus on leading discussion the community about Female genital mutilation, forcing a taboo subject into open dialogue. The Orchid Project is an NGO that uses both of these approaches to eradicate FGM. While its headquarters are in the UK, it supports two separate NGOs, the Tostan NGO based in Dakar, Senegal and the S.A.F.E. NGO based in Kenya. To learn more about the Orchid Project, here is a link to an interview with their representative.
The Orchid Project also supports educational tours of rapper named Sister Fa. Sister Fa, born Fatou Diatta in Senegal, uses her music to campaign against FGM. Her tour called the “Educaton sans Excision” (Education without Cutting) visits schools all over Senegal educating them about the dangers of cutting and why it should stop. However, her efforts are not always welcomed by the communities, she was attacked while giving one of her educational talks in May of 2013. Her interest in supporting this cause stems from her own experience of it, which she outlines in a documentary that was made about her called Sarabah. Even a brief glance at her facebook visibly outlines the emphasis she places on fighting FGM.
Another artist has been recruited to stand against the cultural norm of FGM, Bafing Kul from Mali. He settled in France in 2002 where he has worked with the Commission for the Abolition of Sexual Mutilations (CAMS) who supported the recording of his first album and lists him as an official partner on their webpage. He has been an activist on the side of women struggling against excision, which effects eighty percent of women in Mali. He wrote a song “Eh!Eh!Eh!Eh!” sung in French about the female genital mutilation. He later translated this into English under the title of “Little Girls from Africa”. (Bafing Kul: Official Website)
Both of these artists have dedicated their artistic expression to fighting against this tradition. They do it through different genres of expression, Sister Fa as a rapper and Bafing Kul through reggae inspired style. They appeal to two different audiences with their music, the international community that supports them as well as their native communities that they are trying to educate. While the theme of their music is similar, the prevalence of FGM within their native communities is distinctly different.
Click here to explore the story and message behind Bafing Kul’s work