It's Especially to Protect Her Because a Woman Is a Tree of Production: Musical Narratives of Female Genital Cutting in Senegal and the Diaspora

• Other Authors: Rosner, Elizabeth (author)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/2019_Spring_Rosner_fsu_0071E_15020

Conversations concerning the highly controversial subject of female genital cutting (FGC) often present women and girls at risk of mutilation caused by unchanging, violent traditions. In this dissertation, I examine the global nature of these conversations and the ways Senegalese women vocalize their position to ultimately establish ethical boundaries through musical narratives. Within this study, I demonstrate the spectrum of worldviews embedded within the songs from both activists and from a community of women who continue to practice. Throughout this conversation, broader themes of ownership, power, and autonomy are revealed; however, the ways these ideas are interpreted and lived vary greatly. My study presents a much-needed dialogue concerning the global discourse on a highly controversial, extremely personal subject with the responses from one community of women in Thionck Essyl, Senegal. By presenting these case studies, I can more fully interrogate the parallels and discontinuities between individual stories left out of the conversation with those who have historically had a platform to be heard in order to complicate the discourse concerning women’s bodies. === A Dissertation submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Spring Semester 2019. === March 29, 2019. === Jola, Music and Human Rights, Senegal === Includes bibliographical references. === Frank Gunderson, Professor Directing Dissertation; Joseph Hellweg, University Representative; Margaret Jackson, Committee Member; Michael B. Bakan, Committee Member.