Humanitarian Bodies

Gender, Moral Economy and Genitals Modifications in Italian Immigration Policy

Bibliographic Data

ID3656332
AuthorsMichela Fusaschi (0000-0002-6849-6159, corresponding author)
Year2015
Issue217
Pages11-28
Publication date2015-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCahiers d études africaines (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0008-0055 • E-ISSN: 1777-5353
PublisherOpenEdition (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4000/etudesafricaines.17985
OpenAlexW2224875579
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited14

On 2006, a Nigerian woman was arrested in the northeast of the Italy and she was charged with the offense of "female genital mutilation" in compliance with Italian Law 7/2006 entitled "provisions concerning the prevention and prohibition of the practice of female genital mutilation". On 2008 in Bari, in the south, a two-monthold Nigerian infant died following severe haemorrhaging caused by a circumcision performed at home by a compatriot. These two episodes, notwithstanding their difference in context and time, could seem very distant from each other, but these cases are connected exactly at the point where they divide. From the official documents the anthropological analysis focuses on the messages that can be defined as "humanitarian moral". So the legal implications of these events constitute important precedents and if read, from a gender perspective, help us to shed light on what might be called "differentialist neo-sexism", which implies the perception of the Other corporeality in the so-called host society. Still, following the two stories sheds more light on what the idea the nation state has regarding the body of immigrants, in general the Others, and in particular on "culturally relevant" treatment of the woman under the law

Bodily integrity · Female circumcision · Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Issues · Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality Studies · Legal and cultural studies analysis

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