Understanding the roles of Alternative Rites of Passage and Public Declarations in FGM/C abandonment: An ethnographic study among the Loita Maasai, Kenya

Abstract

This article reports on ethnographic research on ongoing changes in FGM/C among the Maasai community of the Loita Hills, southwest Kenya. The study identified the individual, social, material, and institutional factors that sustain FGM/C in Loita. It then examined how these factors changed under the influence interventions by the nongovernmental organisation S.A.F.E., national anti-FGM/C legislation, school-based education, and religion. S.A.F.E.‘s song performances weakened the social taboo that prevented people from discussing FGM/C; their alternative rite of passage (ARP) made it possible to abandon FGM/C while continuing other elements of the initiation ceremony; the blessing of the ARP by the cultural leadership made not-cutting culturally acceptable; and the public declaration addressed some concerns around the social consequences of not-cutting. Anti-FGM/C legislation drove the practice underground and reinforced its meanings as an ethnic identity marker. School-based education changed people's socio-economic circumstances, facilitating the abandonment of FGM/C without the need to replace it with an LRP. Protestant Loitai initiated their daughters through a religious initiation rite. Together, these influence contributed to the incremental decline of FGM/C in Loita. However, half of the community seems to continue practising FGM/C, because of its meanings that go beyond initiation into adulthood and/or because of continued concerns around the social consequences of not-cutting. Sustained efforts that dynamically adapt to the ever-changing social realities, including potential resurgences in prevalence, can support the community on its path towards total abandonment.