Traditional male circumcision: What is its socio-cultural significance among young Xhosa men?
| dc.contributor.author | Gwata, Feri | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2016-05-24T09:30:44Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2016-05-24T09:30:44Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2009 | |
| dc.date.updated | 2016-05-24T08:25:04Z | |
| dc.description.abstract | This paper explores the socio-cultural perceptions of Xhosa-speaking men on traditional male circumcision. Given that the ritual is painful and can result in 'botched circumcisions' (which get reported every year in the media), it is useful to explore the reasons young, urban men give for participating in it. Using the narratives of five young men from the Western Cape, four of whom have undergone circumcision, the study reveals that the ritual carries social and cultural significance and is understood primarily as an agent of socialization. The study affirms the findings of earlier studies that pressure from one's family is a major influencing factor in a Xhosa man's decision to undergo traditional circumcision. Respondents stress the importance of the ritual in 'becoming a man', but point more to the endurance of pain than to changing one's subsequent behavior as a marker of that transition. | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.apacitation | Gwata, F. (2009). <i>Traditional male circumcision: What is its socio-cultural significance among young Xhosa men?</i> University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Social Science Research(CSSR). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19824 | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.chicagocitation | Gwata, Feri <i>Traditional male circumcision: What is its socio-cultural significance among young Xhosa men?.</i> University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Social Science Research(CSSR), 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19824 | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.citation | Gwata, F. (2009). Traditional male circumcision: What is its socio-cultural significance among young Xhosa men?. Centre for Social Science Research. | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.ris | TY - Working Paper AU - Gwata, Feri AB - This paper explores the socio-cultural perceptions of Xhosa-speaking men on traditional male circumcision. Given that the ritual is painful and can result in 'botched circumcisions' (which get reported every year in the media), it is useful to explore the reasons young, urban men give for participating in it. Using the narratives of five young men from the Western Cape, four of whom have undergone circumcision, the study reveals that the ritual carries social and cultural significance and is understood primarily as an agent of socialization. The study affirms the findings of earlier studies that pressure from one's family is a major influencing factor in a Xhosa man's decision to undergo traditional circumcision. Respondents stress the importance of the ritual in 'becoming a man', but point more to the endurance of pain than to changing one's subsequent behavior as a marker of that transition. DA - 2009 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2009 T1 - Traditional male circumcision: What is its socio-cultural significance among young Xhosa men? TI - Traditional male circumcision: What is its socio-cultural significance among young Xhosa men? UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19824 ER - | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19824 | |
| dc.identifier.vancouvercitation | Gwata F. Traditional male circumcision: What is its socio-cultural significance among young Xhosa men?. 2009 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19824 | en_ZA |
| dc.language | eng | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher.department | Centre for Social Science Research(CSSR) | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher.faculty | Faculty of Humanities | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher.institution | University of Cape Town | |
| dc.rights | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) | * |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ | en_ZA |
| dc.subject.other | male circumcision | |
| dc.subject.other | masculinity | |
| dc.subject.other | ritual | |
| dc.subject.other | social pressure | |
| dc.title | Traditional male circumcision: What is its socio-cultural significance among young Xhosa men? | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Working Paper | en_ZA |
| uct.type.filetype | Text | |
| uct.type.filetype | Image | |
| uct.type.publication | Research | en_ZA |
| uct.type.resource | Research paper | en_ZA |