Bristol International Research Collaboration Activities (BIRCA) - Decolonising the Hegemonic Narrative on ‘Female Genital Mutilation’, 8-22 April 2023

21 April 2023

The School for Policy Studies has played host to a visiting scholar from the Univeristy of Cape Coast, Ghana through the BIRCA scheme with a series of events and activities on the topic of, Decolonising the Hegemonic Narrative on ‘Female Genital Mutilation’

The award brought together these three dynamic early career researchers whose work focuses on decolonising hegemonic gender narratives. The global narrative on Female Genital Mutilation or ‘FGM’ is internationally accepted and promoted by the United Nations, the World Health Organisation, the EU and most supra-national bodies, and has been increasingly inscribed into national legal codes worldwide. However, its origins lie in colonial racist epistemology. Current legislation and policy continue to operate through a colonial lens leading to harmful consequences, including stigmatisation, racial profiling, reducing the cutting age, and discouraging families from seeking healthcare.

As part of the recent re-energised decolonial critique of Eurocentric epistemology in socio-legal fields, these scholars challenge this narrative, expose its history and seek to foreground anti-racist ways of ending harmful cultural practices.

University of Bristol Lead: Dr Natasha Carver (School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol) is a socio-legal scholar with a focus on gendered and racialised legal identities. Her book, which analysed upheavals to gender roles and identity following refugee migration, won the prestigious 2022 BSA Philip Abrams Award.

Institutional Partner Lead: Dr Dorothy Takyiakwaa (Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Cape Coast, Ghana) is a sociologist whose research examines the relationship between socialisation and gender-based violence, power and oppression, socio-cultural and economic issues of women empowerment, and women leadership.

Other participants:

Dr Hannelore Van Bavel (Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, UoB) is an interdisciplinary researcher with a background in social anthropology and gender and diversity studies. Her research traces the historical production, travel, and contestation of discourses on female genital practices and critically interrogates the transnational campaign against 'female genital mutilation'.

Activities included a presentation about Dorothy's work on migrant associations and integration in Ghana and a presentation on Gender and Sexual Identity Acquisition among adolescents in Ghana at a public seminar jointly hosted by the Children and Families Research Centre (CFRC) and the Centre for Gender Violence Research (CGVR) both in the School for Policy Studies.