assumed by many that the procedure is an ancient, un-changing custom introduced by men in order to control women’s reproduction and deny them their sexuality. In this paper I will show that from a local perspective in Senegal, the cultural interpretations of female circumcision are very different from these Western assumptions. My study of the Jola shows that the local meanings of excision are neither monolithic nor static, but are contested and constantly negotiated and renegotiated by various social groups and actors: women and men, young and old. Regional ethnic relations and the political situation, which often pits the Jola against the Senegalese state and the South against the North, further contribute to a dynamic situation that influences and affects local negotiations on the meaning of female circumcision. I will also show that in contrary to general Western beliefs on the antiquity of ‘harmful traditions’ such as female circumcision, the Jola accepted excision as part of modernity.
From this, one can draw certain theoretical conclusions that challenge the common Western stereotypes of those people that practise female circumcision, particularly women who have gone through a circumcision, and by extension have important implications for the formulation of future interventions.