Intimate Rebuke, An
Book Description
In the heart of West African spiritual tradition lies a profound form of sacred activism that challenges conventional understanding of feminine power and moral authority. Laura S. Grillo presents three decades of groundbreaking fieldwork from Côte d'Ivoire, revealing how postmenopausal women known as "the Mothers" harness an ancient ritual practice to confront social corruption and spiritual darkness.
When communities face crisis, these elder women invoke Female Genital Power through ceremonial nudity and symbolic gestures, transforming their bodies into vessels of moral reckoning. This sacred practice operates on dual planes: as clandestine spiritual warfare against malevolent forces, and as bold public demonstration against political injustice. During Côte d'Ivoire's devastating civil conflicts, these rituals became acts of resistance against both rebel factions and state oppression.
Grillo illuminates how this intimate form of rebuke draws upon the generative power of female sexuality to restore cosmic balance and social order. The Mothers' courage to expose themselves physically becomes a metaphor for exposing societal wrongs, wielding vulnerability as strength and shame as purification.
This ethnographic exploration offers readers insight into indigenous wisdom traditions where the feminine divine manifests through embodied action. For those seeking to understand how spiritual practice intersects with social justice, this work reveals how ancient rituals continue to serve as powerful tools for transformation and healing within West African civilization.
Who Is This For?
📖 Reading Level: Medium (200-400 pages)
What You'll Discover
- ✓ Explore Women
- ✓ Explore Religious aspects
- ✓ Explore Protest
- ✓ Explore Religious life
- ✓ Explore Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography
- ✓ Explore Rituals
- ✓ Explore Body
- ✓ Explore Older women
