Not just a chop with a rusty blade

27 August 2010

Journalism fellow Mthetho Tshemese investigated the controversy around traditional male circumcision in the context of HIV. His research has recently been published in a series of articles in the Saturday Dispatch.

Most reports on traditional male circumcision tend to gloss over the cultural significance of these practices. In a rather Western voice they tend to focus on the demerits of this kind of “genital mutilation” and rant about the tragedy of botched circumcisions and resulting deaths.

Few of these detractors consider that circumcision, not only for the Xhosa but also the Jewish and Muslim communities, are the mark of a man.

In the context of HIV, being circumcised also reduces a man’s chances of contracting HIV. In that sense, the bad wrap that botched traditional circumcisions are giving circumcision as a whole is quite disconcerting.

But for many cultures circumcision itself is but a part of a much larger rite to passage – one that imbues boys with the kind of values they need to be good men. Many of these values instill initiates with respect for their wives and responsibility to their community.

A surge in complications and deaths resulting from traditional Xhosa initiations cannot that simply be reduced to and blamed on a practice that is archaic and outdated. As Mthetho Tshemese's research has shown, this is a far more complex issue.

Read Mthetho Tshemese's articles:

Gangsterism in the Bush. A conversation with traditional initiates at circumcision schools in the Eastern Cape. Saturday Dispatch, 26 June 2010.
Risking Life to be a Man. A conversation with leaders of traditional circumcision schools. Saturday Dispatch, 3 July 2010.
A woman who saves initiates. A nurse who treats initiates after botched traditional circumcisions shares her experiences. Saturday Dispatch, 26 July 2010.