CSWS-funded project takes a close look at traditional Western discourse surrounding female genital cutting

Who Defines “Mutilation”? Challenging Imperialism in the Discourse of Female Genital Cutting

Courtney Smith (back row, center)

by Courtney Smith / From: Feminist Formations / Volume 23, Issue 1, Spring 2011 /pp. 25-46 | 10.1353/ff.2011.0009

See also: global.gender.current » Blog Archive » Unpacking female body “mutilation” in Senegal and the U.S.

Courtney Smith received a CSWS Graduate Student Research Grant in 2005, and the Jane Grant Dissertation Writing Grant in 2007. “CSWS funding enabled me to conduct over six months of field research in Senegal, West Africa,” she said. “Because of the financial support provided by CSWS, I was able to spend this relatively long duration in Senegal, and to carry out over 90 interviews with women and men throughout the small country. CSWS also supported me in the dissertation writing phase, which was absolutely instrumental in finishing my Ph.D.”

Smith completed her Ph.D. in political science at the University of Oregon in 2009.  Smith taught in the UO Department of Political Science, and then at Hunter College of the City University of New York in the Women and Gender Studies Program. She can be reached currently at: Courtney Smith; Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies; Washington State University, Vancouver, WA.  (760) 822-9264; courtneypaigesmith(at)gmail.com.