Cutting tradition: The political regulation of traditional circumcision rites in South Africa's liberal democratic order

Journal of Southern African Studies

Volumn 34, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 77-91

  Vincent, Louise ^a  

^a RHODES UNIVERSITY   (South Africa)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

APARTHEID; COLONIALISM; CULTURAL RELATIONS; CULTURAL TRADITION; ETHNIC GROUP; REGULATORY APPROACH;

AFRICA; SOUTH AFRICA; SOUTHERN AFRICA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA;

EID: 39749124803     PISSN: 03057070     EISSN: 14653893     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/03057070701832890     Document Type: Article

References (75)

1. For a discussion of virginity testing see L. Vincent, 'Virginity Testing in South Africa: Re-Traditioning the Postcolony', Culture, Health and Sexuality, 8, 1 (January 2006), pp. 17-30.
2. T. Nairn, The Break-up of Britain (London, NLB, 1977).
3. T. Lodge, South African Politics Since 1994 (Cape Town, David Philip, 1999), p. 97.
4. Lodge, South African Politics, p. 99.
5. See for example, W. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship (New York, Clarendon Press, 1995).
6. J.K. Cowan, M. Dembour and R. A. Wilson (eds), Culture and Rights: Anthropological Perspectives (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. 10.
7. E. Silverman, 'Anthropology and Circumcision', Annual Review of Anthropology, 33 (2004), pp. 419-45.
8. Historically other South African ethnic groups have ritually circumcised boys, including the Zulu, who have now largely abandoned the practice, the Tswana, the Sotho and the Shangaan. On the other hand, not all Xhosa groups circumcise. The practice is not, for example, seen among the Bhaca, Mpondo, Xesibe or Ntlangwini. There are many aspects of the practice that are shared in common among a variety of different ethnic groups across southern Africa.
9. V. Mayatula and T. Mavundla, 'A Review on Male Circumcision Procedures among South African Blacks', Curationis (September 1997), p. 16.
10. P. Apps, 'Deaths Prompt Action on Circumcision Schools', Reuters/IOL (28 July 2005), p. 28.
11. P. Mtuze, Introduction to Xhosa Culture (Alice, Lovedale Press, 2004), p. 48.
12. Ibid., p.41.
13. Mayatula and Mavundla, 'Review on Male Circumcision Procedures', p. 17.
14. Ibid., p. 18.
15. Cited in Apps, 'Deaths Prompt Action on Circumcision Schools'.
16. It is common in South Africa to refer to a person undergoing traditional circumcision as 'going to the bush'. This term evokes the rural, outdoor location where circumcision traditionally takes place.
17. Sapa/IOL, 'Many Traditional Surgeons "Let Off' by Police', (19 August).
18. Cited in 'City Clinic Performs 50 Free Circumcisions', Pretoria News (28 June 2004).
19. Cape Argus, 'Eastern Cape Circumcision Schools Rebel' (10 December 2003).
20. See for example, T.O. Beidelman, 'Notes on Boys' Initiation Among the Ngulu of East Africa', Man, 65 (2005), pp. 143-47.
21. W.D. Hambly, 'Tribal Initiation of Boys in Angola', American Anthropology, 37 (1935), pp. 36-40.
22. S. Heald, 'The Ritual Use of Violence: Circumcision among the Gisu of Uganda', in D. Riches (ed), The Anthropology of Violence (London, Blackwell, 1986).
23. C.P. Holdredge and K. Young, 'Circumcision Rites among the Bajok', American Anthropology, 29 (1927), pp. 661-69.
24. Silverman, 'Anthropology and Circumcision', p. 421.
25. M. Wilson et al., Social Structure: Keiskammahoek Rural Survey Vol. II (Pietermaritzburg, Shuter and Shooter, 1952), p. 202.
26. 'Ancient Practice of Tribal Circumcision Divides South Africa', Daily Telegraph, 23 January 1997, p. 27.
27. On the other hand, Contralesa's Phathekile Holomisa has argued that hut burning has long not been widely practised with many contemporary initiates ordinary houses and only the belongings of the initiate burned. 'We must adapt to changing times', Holomisa is quoted as saying. (Afrol News, 2 March 2004).
28. J. Mbiti, Introduction to African Religion (London, Heineman, 1997), p. 93.
29. N. Momoti, 'Law and Culture in the New Constitution with Specific Reference to the Custom of Circumcision as Practised in the Eastern Cape' (Master of Law Thesis, Rhodes University, 2002), p. 58.
30. Momoti, 'Law and Culture in the New Constitution'.
31. Cited in 'Illegal Circumcision Schools Shut Down', The Daily News, 24 June 2005, p. 7.
32. D. Hemson and K. Owusu-Ampomah, 'A Better Life for All? Service Delivery and Poverty Alleviation' in J. Daniel, R. Southall and J. Lutchman (eds), State of the Nation South Africa 2004-2005 (Pretoria, HSRC, 2005), pp. 515-6.
33. L. Schlemmer and J. Wilson, 'Social Development', in South Africa Survey 2001/2002 (Johannesburg, South African Institute of Race Relations, 2001), p. 54.
34. 'NGO to Probe Into Baby Deaths', The Mercury, 27 July 2005, p. 4.
35. M. Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic (New York, Vintage Books, 1973), p. 34.
36. 'Illegal Schools Shut Down', Daily News, 24 June 2005, p. 7.
37. Sapa, 'Initiate Dies During Circumcision Rite', 21 June 2005.
38. D. Posel, 'A Matter of Life and Death' (Wiser, Draft Paper, 2004), p. 6.
39. J. Baudrillard, Symbolic Exchange and Death (London and New Delhi, Sage, 1993), p. 130.
40. Posel, 'Life and Death', p. 9.
41. V. Mayatula and T. Mavundla, 'Review on Male Circumcision', p. 18.
42. See for example B. Huff, 'Male Circumcision: Cutting the Risk?' (American Foundation for Aids Research, August 2000).
43. Silverman, 'Anthropology and Circumcision', p. 426.
44. 'Circumcision May Cut the Risk of Aids', Cape Argus, 23 November 1999.
45. Thomas J. Coates, professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, and associate director for international and health policy research at the UCLA Aids Institute, writing in an opinion piece, 'The Snip Could Save Many Lives'. The Star, 31 October 2005.
46. See for example M. Milos and D. Macris, 'Circumcision: A Medical or a Human Rights Issue?', Journal of Nurse-Midwifery, 37, 2 (1992), pp. 87-96.
47. E. Lagarde et al., 'Acceptability of Male Circumcision as a Tool for Preventing HIV Infection in a Highly Infected Community in South Africa', AIDS, 17, 1 (January 2003), pp. 89-95.
48. Lagarde et al., 'Acceptability of Male Circumcision', p. 89.
49. M. Wieviorka, 'Is Multiculturalism the Solution?', Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21, 5 (1998), p. 891.
50. Mtuze, Introduction to Xhosa Culture, p. 50.
51. Sapa, 'Leaders Urge Probe after Circumcision Death', 29 June 2005.
52. I am indebted to an anonymous reviewer for raising this example in this context.
53. 'Eastern Cape Tightens Law on Circumcision to Stem Casualties', BMJ 10 November 2001.
54. 'Mother of Dead Initiate Barred from Funeral', Saturday Star, 28 June 2002.
55. The Mail and Guardian, 'Law vs Tradition in Circumcision Debacle', 8 December 2003.
56. Cape Argus, 'Eastern Cape Circumcision Schools Rebel', 10 December 2003.
57. J. Makang, 'Of the Good Use of Tradition', in E. Chukwudi Ezw, Postcolonial African Philosophy. A Critical Reader (Oxford, Blackwell, 1997), p. 327.
58. Makang, 'Of the Good Use of Tradition', p. 325.
59. Ibid.
60. Ibid., p. 326.
61. Cited in 'Greed Blamed for Death of Initiates', The Independent on Saturday (South Africa), 5 August 2002.
62. See for example. A. Clare, On Men: Masculinity in Crisis (London, Chatto and Windus, 2000)
63. L. McDowell, 'The Trouble with Men? Young People, Gender Transformations and the Crisis of Masculinity', International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 24, 1 (March 2000), pp. 201-209.
64. C. Campbell, 'Learning to Kill? Masculinity, the Family and Violence in Natal', Journal of Southern African Studies, 18, 3 (September 1992), p. 621.
65. See for example, 'Mother of Dead Initiate Barred from Funeral', Saturday Star, 28 June 2002.
66. C. Bundy, 'At War With the Future? Black South African Youth in the 1990s', in S. Steadman, South Africa: The Political Economy of Transformation (Boulder, CO, L. Rienner Publishers, 1994), p. 50.
67. G. Stevens and R. Lockhat, 'Coca Cola Kids: Reflections on Black Adolescent Identity Development in Post-Apartheid South Africa', South African Journal of Psychology, 27, 4 (1997), p. 253.
68. Cited in 'Ancient Practice of Tribal Circumcision Divides South Africa', Daily Telegraph, 23 January 1997, p. 27.
69. Ibid., p.18.
70. Cowan et al., Culture and Rights, p. 4.
71. Ibid., p. 6.
72. Geertz, Local Knowledge (New York, Basic Books, 1983), p. 184.
73. D. Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity (Oxford, Blackwell, 1989), p. 27.
74. J. Habermas, Towards a Rational Society (London, Heinemann, 1971), p. 112.
75. J.K. Cowan, M. Dembour and R.A. Wilson, Culture and Rights: Anthropological Perspectives (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. 2.