Lunchtime Talk on Dawoodi Bohra Community and FGC Practices
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Negotiating independence and the politics of knowledge production. Lunchtime Talk: 10th October Case study: Female Genital Cutting, human rights and religious freedom. Dr Sadie King and Prof Georgie Parry-Crooke Principal Researchers/Consultants at the TIHR
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Lunchtime Talk on Dawoodi Bohra Community and FGC Practices
- 2. Context: Who are the Dawoodi Bohra? • Small Shia Muslim Ismaili group 1 million • Mumbai and diaspora • Modernist (women’s education and embracing technology) • Highly traditional (distinct dress, disciplined social organisation sense of duty to religious authority high) • Economic success and development work in less advantaged sectors of community 2
- 3. 3
- 4. Context: Why did they come to the TIHR? • Independent view on Sahiyo report (not PR) • To challenge that FGC is not FGM • To protect community from reputational damage and prosecution 4
- 5. The contract: What did the Dawoodi Bohra want? How did we respond? What did they ask for? – Critique of Sahiyo Report What did we offer? – A review of whole situation in order to open a conversation. Why was it important for us to do this project? – Because it was difficult 5
- 6. What we did: Initial review of the Sahiyo research • The design was not fully described and lacked rationale • There was no independent review and the sampling strategy resulted in findings that present problems for generalisation • There remain unresolved ethical issues in the design and methods of research • The survey analysis was neither transparent nor robust • The literature review was incoherent, unstructured and not systematic • The report is biased towards the wider anti-FGM aim of Sahiyo. 6
- 7. What we did: Synthesis of key issues and relevant other research 1. Is the Sahiyo report a valid representation of the views and experiences of Dawoodi Bohra women? 2. Is the Dawoodi Bohra FGC practice a ‘human rights violation’ as claimed in the Sahiyo report? 3. How do Dawoodi Bohra women understand FGC within their culture and religion? 4. What drives the debate represented by Sahiyo on the one hand (human rights) and orthodox Dawoodi Bohra (religious freedom) on the other? 5. How can the findings of this synthesis shift the conversation into a more open space? 7
- 8. Key Findings: 1. The Sahiyo report is not a valid representation of the views and experiences of Dawoodi Bohra women 2. ‘Human rights violation’ as claimed in the Sahiyo report? No evidence of more serious claims but evidence to support hypothesis of short term physical harm, psychological harm and social impacts if not had. 8
- 9. Al Masjid ul Husseini June 2017 9
- 10. Gender roles • Meeting the DB ‘at home’ - being invited in - being supervised throughout • Perceptions on both sides - women and men positive about women’s lives - education, jobs, professionals, communal cooking • Patriarchy and/or matriarchy? - allegiance to a single spiritual leader, the Da’I-al- Mutlaq, with complete authority 10
- 11. Modernism and orthodoxy: a paradox for the community? • The Dawoodi Bohra promote being progressive while maintaining their traditions • They claim that these are reconciled yet ‘modernity can support tradition but here tradition will trump modernity’ (Blank, 2001) • Is there a clash of values? Perhaps not ‘provided the word modernity is used in a narrow sense of adoption of information, communication technologies and secular education’. (Ghadially, 2002) • Thus FGC has been argued as ‘compatible’ 11
- 12. In the women’s gallery 12
- 13. On being women • The Dawoodi Bohra Women’s Association for Religious Freedom (DBWARF): established 2017 - active in the pro-FGC movement in India - see selves as the authentic voice of orthodox community - argue that making ‘khafz’ illegal counter to religious freedom • Perceived strengths - tight-knit community - autonomy is many areas of life including rituals (FGC) - women’s self-determination so arguably not patriarchal but matriarchal thus modern • Vulnerabilities - compliance with their situation? 13
- 14. Multiple perspectives: • Can FGC only be understood as a human rights violation or as a cultural practice? • Do anti-FGC arguments homogenise different practices, overlooking power dynamics and women’s subjective experience? • Are women typically cast as victims thus creating a loss of agency for themselves? • Where do consent and autonomy enter the discussion? • Can there be a space where women’s experience is honoured? 14
- 15. Challenging a community: • Privacy (and a-political position) • Exposure to discrimination because of press - use and misuse of data - visibility of women’s rida/risk of fuelling Islamophobia • Being exposed and using exposure • Silence no longer a protection - Prime Minister Modi meets the Dawoodi Bohra 14.9.18 - Twitter video promoting FGC 20.9.18 - Supreme Court case in India referred to the Constitution Bench 25.9.18 15
- 16. The response: No response. How can the findings of this synthesis shift the conversation into a more open space? The Court Case continues weighing between these polarized views. 16 Human rights bodily integrity Human rights religious freedom
Editor's Notes
- The talk not a summary of the report but our experience of working with a difficult issue where the client’s needs and the need to produce an independent, balanced report could not be met harmoniously. Who are DB – see p10 for brief description The Dawoodi Bohra is a small Ismaili sect within Shia Islam (approximately one million population). What distinguishes this community from other Shia groups is that members follow a single spiritual leader or Da’i-al-Mutlaq. His role is to govern or oversee the community with complete authority, unlike the leaders of other Muslim Shia groups. The Dawoodi Bohra is further distinguished from other groups in its commitment to modernity (see 5.1 below). Central to the community is the mithaq or oath of allegiance to the Da’i the meaning of which has been the cause of controversy and internal power struggles (Blank, 2001, p. 63). Mainly living in Mombai India, diaspora all over world, extremely economically successful. Highly organised and disciplined in terms of upholding religious and cultural norms.
- Traditional dress and community life. Rida invented in 70s.
- Sahiyo is a human rights group in India of women who identify as Bohra from progressives. Anti FGM. Study and media campaign. Types of FGC. Who definition. 1a and b to 4. 4 was added later in recognition of pricking and scratching customs. Media reports of female sexual oppression through FGM in Bohra Prosecutions of DB drs in Australia and US. (now acquitted no physical evidence of harm)
- Point 2 – talking with a community for whom the project was going to be contentious We could see the community could easily be vulnerable to Islamophobia attack We could see that this form of cutting was not like commonly know forms mainly in Africa that have serious impacts on womens physical and mental health. Instinctively The project offered us something in terms of learning about power dynamics and the production of knowledge. The project had race, ethnicity, religion and gender in tension. It was veiled in secrecy. Confidentiality agreements.
- Georgie will take the theme of patriarchy and western hegemony and Islamophobia up a little closer as it related to our experience of the research. So this just a quick overview of our findings. Synthesis of clinical and other studies of Type 1 and 4 FGC practices particularly from South Asian Muslim contexts. Inference. Hypothesis generating. No studies on DB.
- Very large complex with housing and offices of the DB
- Very little known about this community: Jonah Blank US anthropologist 2001 study is the only in depth exploration of the DB although responses to that and now a growing external interest generated through the discussions of FGC Women v positive about their lives – communal cooking; jobs; not chained to the kitchen But the not as clear cut as ways in which religion, culture and gender intersect also has an impact on women’s lives
- Keeping out of politics one way of maintaining their position, keeping a low profile but more recently and as a result of exposure women FGC as compatible particularly relevant to ways in which women have asserted their positions inside and outside the DB
- Say something about our roles as women in this project – allocated to us because of experience (strength) but we didn’t get to the women as being managed Men say they don’t know if cutting goes on because it’s in the women’s domain and DBWARF demonstrates this as over 72000 women sign an agreement which includes: I pledge my support for the movement. I affirm my right to practice khafz which I believe is not harmful. Complexity of situation
- We are just holding up the mirror to contribute to the discussion – reflecting the complexity so not as simple as pro or anti Are there multiple patriarchies active here because of where the dominant discourses have emerged and are held? Last point almost takes us full circle – the work of campaigners to end the DB practice including the Sahiyo report wanted to offer that space but the research was not sufficiently robust or reliable; not did it locate the discussion in the cultural and political contexts
- For us, we knew at the outset that what we said would be a challenge and indeed the Sahiyo report had forced into the open the questions of FGC as human rights violation or allowing religious freedom Lack of literature may relate to privacy but appear like secrecy Did an analysis of media coverage Exposure for women who Constitutional bench reviews cases where interpretation of the law of the constitution is in question – being seen as a positive result for the DBWARF and DB – who are beginning to enter the public sphere with their argument – will this lead to dialogue? So sadie – what happened next?
- Does anyone want to have the conversation? Our work is about that and not making judgements