A dramatic interpretation of the fragilities of the FGM narrative: a reply to ‘The prosecution of Dawoodi Bohra women’ by Richard Shweder

Inspired by Richard Shweder’s paper, What about ‘Female Genital Mutilation?’ And Why Understanding Culture Matters in the First Place (MIT Press, 2000), I wrote the play Human Rites seeking to challenge audiences’ assumptions about the practice of circumcision among women, known colloquially as ‘female genital mutilation’ (FGM). Throughout the development of Human Rites, which involved research and extensive interaction with Shweder and Fuambai Sia Ahmadu (both of whom served as bases for characters in the play), I experienced anticipated and unanticipated pushback on the controversial perspectives voiced in the play, as well as the appropriateness of a Caucasian man authoring a play about black and brown women’s bodies. The two productions of Human Rites went on to generate highly engaged dialogue among audiences, as they grappled with their own, mostly unexamined pre-conceptions about FGM, the disparity in moral attitudes toward male and female circumcision, and the inherent moral authority Westerners often hold with regard to ‘primitive’ practices in other countries and cultures. Shweder’s subsequent paper ‘The prosecution of Dawoodi Bohra women: some reasonable doubts,’ has inspired a kind of sequel to Human Rites, that will interrogate the widely accepted practice of circumcision among infant boys in Western Jewish and Christian communities.