The Church and the 1929 Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) contestation in Kenya, with special reference to the Scottish Presbyterian Church and the Kikuyu community
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: Initiation rites are the lifeblood of most African communities. In East Africa, these rites \nare part of traditional beliefs and customs, and may include physical mutilation,. In \nKenya, particularly, the initiation rite was seen as a graduation ceremony and a means of \nenculturation, giving a sense of identity. The arrival of European missionaries in the \nearly 20th century set the stage for contestation between Christianity, as understood by \nthe European missionaries, and the African leaders over the rite of initiation. Female \ngenital mutilation was at the core of this contestation. Missionaries perceived the practice \nas not only brutal and oppressive but also medically and hygienically undesirable. They \nconsidered it foreign to both their culture and to Christianity. It was barbaric and \nprimitive, by their standards. They felt it was deserving of church discipline. In 1929, \nthis rite was vigorously attacked by a number of influential European agencies, \nmissionaries, pro-African bodies and government educational and medical authorities. \nAn injunction was put out by the missionary churches preventing circumcised girls and \ntheir parents from attending church and school. The African leaders and cultural systems \nhit back strongly, especially against the church. In 1930, a strong challenge against the \nmissionary position was launched by the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA) in Nyeri. \nThe result was the opening of independent schools and churches. These independent \nchurches tolerated FGM and many other African cultural practices. Whereas the African \nIndependent Churches (AICs) demanded religious freedom from what they perceived as \ncultural imperialism, however, they in turn denied freedom to children and women who \nhad for years been suppressed by patriarchal ideals. \nThis article outlines the 1929 contestation in Kenya with regard to female genital \nmutilation, with special reference to the Scottish Presbyterian Church and the Kikuyu \ncommunity. It endeavours to demonstrate that the point at issue between the Missionary \nChurch and the African Independent Churches was religious freedom in the form of a \ncustomary rite. The article uses written sources to reconstruct the history of the 1929 \nFGM contestation in Kenya and attempts to assess its implications for the church and \nsociety in general. It argues that in this contestation, FGM was used only to score \npolitical and religious points and was not addressed per se.
Author: Stephen Muoki Joshua
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1851737286