In Casamance, views on female circumcision are many and conflicting. In my experience, it is primarily older women who defend the practice. Only a few middle — aged women told me that they would not have excised their daughters if they had been faced with the choice today. Many of the old women were among the first Jola to go through excision and convert to Islam and to be initiated into the ‘new’ form of secret society. Genital cutting is an important mark of their ritual authority and religious identity. Older women often reacted with aggression when I posed questions about their opinions of the recent Senegalese law against excision. They were well aware of the law and answered with indignation that Islam demands excision and education. Frustrated, they posed the rhetorical question: “How are we to educate the girls in the future if they are not excised?” One of the
Arnfred Page 86 Wednesday, March 3, 2004 2:38 PM