Literature

 

Non-fiction

Undoing FGM: Pierre Foldes, the Surgeon who restores the Clitoris

Author: Hubert PROLONGAU
Date: 2011
Edition language: English
Other Editions: -

Summary:
This study is the unique biography of surgeon and activist Pierre Foldes. The latter invented the surgical technique that repairs excision and tried to prevent the practice for medical and humanitarian reasons. Readers learn about the experiences of young victims and their efforts to reclaim their identities, sexualities, and birth anatomies.

Isaaks Schwestern

Author: Jürgen Wacker
Date: 2011
Edition Language: German
Other Editions: -

Summary:
This biography of Fatimata tells the story of her life as a child in Burkina Faso, her ‘circumcision’ and her new life in Germany.

Schwester Löwenherz

Author: Fadumo Korn
Date: 2009
Edition Language: German
Other Editions: -

Summary:
This book is the second story of Fadumo Korn, living in Munich, helping African asylum seekers and fighting for their rights.

Weibliche Genitalverstümmelung in Eritrea. Regionale Erklärungen, nationale Ansätze und internationale Standards

Author: Diana Kuring
Date: 2008
Edition Language: German
Other Editions: -

Summary:
This book is a case study about the practices of FGM in Eritrea, dealing with cultural, political and legal issues.

Brief an meine Mutter

Author: Dirie Waris
Date: 2007
Edition language: German
Other Editions: Dutch, Polish

Summary:
In this letter, Dirie Waris explains openly to her mother the reasons of her fight against FGM. “Brief an meine Mutter” is a personal book that addresses the cultural conflicts between her and her Somali family.

Beschneidung im Geheimbund

Author: Rebekka Rust
Date: 2007
Edition Language: German
Other Editions: -

Summary:
This book tells the story of the Bundo Society, a secret society in Sierra Leone that promotes FGM.

Le pacte d’Awa - pour en finir avec les mutilations sexuelles

Author: Agnès Boussuge, Elise Thiébaut, GAMS - Groupe pour l'abolition des mutilations sexuelles
Date: 2006
Edition language: French
Other Editions: -

Summary:
This book is intended for a young public. It brings together four testimonies, a "Toolkit", statistical data and a sociologist interview. It gives access to raw facts, prevents and informs about the alarming consequences of FGM. It also allows a better understanding of customs and traditions that still encourage FGM.

On m’a volé mon enfance

Author: Diaryatou Bah, Sylvia Tabet
Date: 2006
Edition Language: French
Other Editions: -

Summary:
This book traces the fight of Diaryatou Bah for its survival in Guinea and through Europe. Cut and married by force to a man much older than her, Diaryatou finds herself in Holland and then in France undocumented and powerless. At 18 and after her third miscarriage she flees her husband and begins a long process of integration in France.

Infidel, my life

Author: Hirsi Ali Ayaan
Date: 2006
Edition language: English
Other Editions: Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Sinhalese, Marathi, Croatian, Polish, Turkish, Hebrew, Japanese

Summary:
The autobiography of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Dutch-Somalian activist, author and former politician. Ayaan Hirsi Ali explains her travel across Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Kenya. She also presents her application to Asylum in Netherland and her following political career.

Mutilée

Author: Khady, Marie-Thérèse Cuny
Date: 2006
Edition Language: French
Other Editions: Dutch, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese

Summary:
Khady was excised at the age of seven. When she grew up, she became aware of what she experiments. She explains the grief felt in her autobiographical book.

Femmes Libres

Author: Aurine Crémieu and Hélène Julien
Date: 2005
Edition Language: French
Other Editions: -

Summary:
The book regroups 14 testimonies of women who fight for freedom all over the world. Aurine Crémieu and Hélène Julien, journalists and members of Amnesty International, gathered the testimonies.

Geboren im großen Regen. Mein Leben zwischen Afrika und Deutschland

Author: Fadumo Korn
Date: 2004
Edition Language: German
Other Editions: -

Summary:
This story is the one of Fadumo, who has been cut at the age of 8 years old in the hot desert sands. Following her excision, the young girl got ill and was sent to Germany to be cured. Through her terrible memories Fadumo raises her voice against the practice.

Tränen im Sand

Author: Nura Abdi
Date: 2004
Edition Language: German
Other Editions: French, English, Dutch, Bulgarian, Spanish, Polish

Summary:
The autobiography of Nura Abdi is a protest against the harmful custom of excision. Nura Abdi explains her experiment of FGM in Somalia at the age of 4 years and trauma happening years later. She also strikes on her happy childhood in Africa and her brutal coming in Germany at the age of 18.

Der Beschneidungsskandal

Author: Hanny Lightfoot-Klein
Date: 2003
Edition Language: German
Other Editions: -

Summary:
This book gives details about the practice of FGM in the so-called Western world, based on academic facts and various examples.

Schnitt in die Seele - Weibliche Genitalverstümmelung : eine fundamentale Menschenrechtsverletzung

Author: Gritt Richter, TERRE DES FEMMES
Date: 2003
Edition Language: German
Other Editions: -

Summary:
The books collects articles from thirteen countries  – from Cameron, Ethiopia, Egypt, Burkina Faso, France, Gambia, Germany, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Tanzania and from the USA – and facilitates a broad spectrum of viewpoints and action on FGM. Twenty-five authors report on their awareness training against the practice of FGM in Africa, as well as guidelines they have developed for migrants in Europe. The book is suitable for people with and without previous knowledge of FGM. Its goal is to give competent and comprehensive information about the subject.

Weibliche Genitalverstümmelung. Diskussion und Praxis in der Medizin während des 19. Jahrhunderts im deutschsprachigen Raum

Author: Marion Hulverscheidt
Date : 2002
Edition language: German
Other Editions: English

Summary:
In public discourse FGM is often perceived as a barbaric act performed by ‘backward civilisations’ of African origin. Hardly anyone knows that the practice was also applied in German-speaking territory to treat masturbation, hysteria and other disruptions alleged to be typical female maladies. For the first time Terre des Femmes member Marion Hulverscheidt illustrates this almost forgotten chapter in the history of medicine with the help of case studies in a clear and sensitive language. Links to ethnology and anthropology can be found, as well as links to up to date debates about FGM.       

Female Genital Cutting, cultural conflict in the global community

Author: Elizabeth Heger Boyle
Date: 2002
Edition language: English
Other Editions:

Summary:
In this study, the sociologist Elizabeth Boyle examines controversy surrounding FGM from the perspective of the international system, governments and individuals.

Das Recht auf Weiblichkeit. Hoffnung im Kampf gegen die Genitalverstümmelung

Author: Conny Hermann
Date: 2000
Edition language: German
Other Editions: -

Summary:
Conny Hermann had published selected articles about the origins and the present day practices of FGM as well as field reports. Other articles deal with the presentation of initiatives in Europe and activities in Africa; the book also presents case studies from Somalia, Senegal or Mali where doctors and circumcisers have been sensitized.   

La petite Peule

Author: Mariama Barry
Date: 2000
Edition Language: French
Other Editions: English

Summary:
“La petite Peule” is an autobiographical novel that retraces the story of the author’s childhood in Senegal. As a young girl she tells her feelings about the bad application of religious and cultural traditions.

Female Genital Mutilation, A Practical Guide to Worldwide Laws and Policies

Author: Anika Rahman, Nahid Toubia
Date: 2000
Edition language: English
Other Editions: -

Summary:
The book gives on overview of the history of FGM, as well as its consequences for health. The authors look at the reasons used to justify FGM and present a history of the movement working to combat FGM.

Desert Flower: The Extraordinary Travel of a Desert Nomad

Author: Waris Dirie, Cathleen Miller
Date: 1998
Edition language: English
Other Editions: Arabic, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish, Greek, Swedish, Spanish, Turkish, Bulgarian, Slovak, Lithuanian, Serbian, Romanian, Azerbaijani, Indonesian

Summary:
Waris Dirie writes about her life as a girl from Somalia, becoming a top model and UN spokeswomen on women’s rights.

Do They Hear You When You Cry?

Author: Fauziya Kassindja
Date: 1998
Edition Language: English
Other Editions: Dutch, German, Spanish, Portuguese

Summary:
Fauziya Kassindja details her life as a young girl in Togo and her experiment in the U.S prisons after having fled from Africa to escape female genital mutilation. She explains also how Layla Miller Bashir fought for her freedom.

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Fiction

À L’immolée

Author: Michel Kimpele
Date: 2014
Edition Language: French

Summary:
Michel Kimpele is a EU-agent against FGM. Here is a poem he wrote about the suffering caused by the practice.

Link: Download

Diariatou face à la tradition

Author: Sabine Fickers, Ndiaye El Hadji Sidy, Patrick Theunen
Date: 2005
Edition Language: French
Other Editions: English, German, Dutch

Summary:
The comic strip supplies information concerning FGM through the holidays of Diaritou in her mother’s home country.

La Gazelle et les exciseuses

Author: Christian Mambou
Date: 2004
Edition Language: French
Other Editions: -

Summary:
A novel about a young girl called Ayite promised to an old man polygamist who decides on the eve of her excision to flee. A long tracking against the young girl is organized by the community who feel injure.

Possessing the Secret of Joy

Author: Alice Walker
Date: 1992
Edition Language: English
Other Editions: Dutch, German, Spanish, Slovenian

Summary:
The novel tells the story of Tashi an African woman coming from a fictional nation in Africa called Olinka. After marrying an American man, she chooses to go back to Olinka and to undergo circumcision. Indeed, Tashi feels bothered by not having the procedure done as a child and wants to honor her roots. Severely traumatized by this experience, she spends the rest of her life battling madness desperately through psychotherapy.

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