Facing uneasiness in feminist research: The case of female genital cutting

Genital cutting evokes an uneasiness among feminist scholars. In this chapter I will show how this uneasiness is ignored, denied and silenced, drawing upon a specific feminist debate about female circumcision in Africa. I then turn to several perspectives provided by feminist scholars for understanding affective experiences of discomfort and show how they can help make sense of the debate and, more generally, the difficulties of having debates about controversial practices. I make a case for treating uneasiness as a resource rather than as a hindrance for understanding female genital cutting because it allows space for differences in experience, contradictory emotions and the inevitable messiness of bodily practices that are both harmful and fervently desired.