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amaXhosa Circumcision: Stories of Manhood and Mental Health

Prologue: My ethnographic journey—Into isithetho Encountering ethnography A naïve feminist scholar Women in between Encountering a biomedical patriarchy Encountering an amaXhosa patriarchy Womanism and anthropology The lone anthropologist References Overview: amaXhosa circumcision—Performing the ordinary Introduction Gender theory and amaXhosa manhood A hegemonic masculinity Considering the universal An ethnographic substrate A short history of amaXhosa circumcision Ethnography and engendering Making distinctions for amaXhosa manhood Holding to orthodoxy A link between circumcision and psychosis The making of unconscious distinctions Conclusion References Negotiating patriarchy: Biomedical patriarchy—amaXhosa orthodoxy Introduction Spinning patriarchal discourses in a pivotal moment Moments of orthodoxy Fragility and resilience in amaXhosa orthodoxy A muddy bottom to human consciousness Cultural eclecticism in cosmopolitan Cape Town Eclecticism in autonomy and agency Cautiously engaging cultural eclecticism Fears of brokenness in amaXhosa orthodoxy Conclusion Notes References Resounding resilience in amaXhosa circumcision: Incorporating orthodoxy Introduction amaXhosa circumcision Age of circumcision Choosing to go for circumcision Taken by the father for the patrilineage Preparation Cutting in circumcision Cutting The beginning of an altered state Making cognitive distinctions in naming Hlonipha and re-naming Seclusion Phase one – Wound healing Phase two – Learning to become a man White clay Instructions for a safe rite of passage Those who do not return Coming out Never looking back Meeting fertile women Six months of apprenticeship Conclusion References amaXhosa women in circumcision: Dropping the pot Introduction Women, symbol, and metaphor in circumcision Dropping the pot Women’s place in burial rituals Circumscribing isiXhosa-speaking womanhood Confrontation in reciprocity relations Mother’s withdraw for men’s withdrawal Sexuality, contamination and role reversals Women’s intimacy and becoming Becoming oneself in amaXhosa womanhood Reciprocity in patriarchy Gendered relations as shifting reciprocity Fathers make men, mothers affirm womanhood Confrontation as contestation Conclusion References Embedding pain in memory: Instigating amaXhosa manhood Introduction Circumcising pain into a man’s body Instigating pain: The cut Embedding pain in memory: The seclusion Resolving pain in social relatedness The denial of pain: Coming-out Instantiating pain in memory Goffman’s ‘Saving Face’ amongst amaXhosa men Silencing pain Pain, blood, resilience, and the ancestors Pain as symbolic reference Silencing pain beyond the circumcision ground Unacceptably remembered pain Conclusion References Circumcision, manhood and psychosis: Testimonies of engendered suffering Introduction A phenomenological link Delayed circumcision, failure and psychosis Youth in crisis Delayed circumcision Self-circumcision Circumcision, failure, and the onset of psychosis Overwhelming psychological stress in new men Beliefs of failing circumcision Psychosis and the contortion of amaXhosa cosmological symbols Resonances of childhood and circumcision in symbolic image Inner voices that inappropriately overwhelm A threat to oneself and others Dissolving cognitive kinship ties Death in symbolic image The link between circumcision and mental illness Disintegrating distinctions Aligning agency and authority amaXhosa idioms of distress and mental illness amaXhosa landscapes, mind, manhood, and mental illness Conclusion References amaXhosa metaphor in psychosis: Chasa’s story—A symbolic nexus Introduction Tracing back Chasa’s story On admission Undertaking his calling Orthodox rituals – A missing digit, circumcision, and ukuthwasa Resilience through ritual – Chasa’s story Cultural symbols threading distinctions Conclusion References Negotiating harm: Holding to orthodoxy Introduction A question of harm Going alone Becoming alone Becoming dysfunctional Mr Gebe’s explanation for mental illness in circumcision Challenging circumcision A brief historical perspective Surgical penile scarring Unravelling harm The working through of harm Held pain versus painful traumatic injury The circumciser’s cut and surgical transplantation Conclusion References Women’s advocacy: Re-describing gendered dispositions Introduction Women shaping amaXhosa consciousness The story of Lindelo’s mother Translating one mother’s crisis into advocacy Work-shopping crises in circumcision Xhosa men’s accusations – voices and agency Women reply – Agency and voice Interpreting women’s advocacy A defining custom for pure circumcision The subversion of amaXhosa engendering Co-existence in amaXhosa philosophy Conclusion References Introduction Holding to orthodoxy Instantiated resilience Cutting as a metaphor for pain into orthodoxy Institutional spaces for orthodox practices Competing metaphors in an orthodox practice Mounting concerns for an orthodox practice Conclusion References

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