Publication details
One Ritual, Different Directions : Contemporary Differences of Female Circumcision in Central Java
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Throughout the paper the author focuses on the ritual of female circumcision in Indonesian Java, more specifically in the city of Yogyakarta. Female circumcision in Java and Indonesia in general is considered as a daily practice going hand in hand with tradition. The author puts to the foreground the form of circumcision, performed in Yogyakarta and its classification as the symbolic and less invasive one. The ritual, that had somewhat same form and significance in different socio-economic and Muslim communities just one generation ago, is undergoing big changes. These changes are being implemented by state regulations, that make the traditional form of the ritual illegal, and promote its medicalized version. Changes are seen also between the supporters of the two major Islamic non-government organizations: the traditionalist Nahdlatul Ulama and the modernist Muhammadiyah. The author explains the national and international regulations and guidelines, analyzes the role of different authorities (state, religious leaders and NGO’s) on the persistence/abundance of FC and consequently it’s globalized form (medicalization). The author learns and emphasizes that this is a practice taken for granted, whose origin is little known to the interlocutors (the executors and participants of the ritual) and that the existing literature and fieldwork on the subject is insufficient. |
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