Making the Mark Gets Glowing Review
Mirka Prazak's ethnography, Making the Mark: Identity, and Genital Cutting, which weaves together a rich mosaic of the voices contributing to the debate over this life-altering ritual, has been favorably reviewed by CHOICE magazine.
CHOICE recommended the text, based on a review by E.E. Stiles of the University of Reno, Nevada. Stiles writes:
"Prazak...provides a richly detailed ethnographic account of the changing practices and understandings of circumcision—both male and female—among the Kuria people of southern Kenya. The book's greatest strengths are the author's evocative descriptions of the events and ceremonies of the circumcision seasons at the turn of the 21st century, and her careful attention to the many competing voices on and views about circumcision—particularly female circumcision—in the Kuria community. Although Prazak is not attempting a new theoretical argument, her book is a readable, on-the-ground account of the ways in which international-, national-, and local-level debates about circumcision are playing out in a Kenyan community where female circumcision rates are extremely high. Prazak writes clearly and skillfully incorporates arguments from the anthropology of ritual, the anthropology of law, and development studies in a way that will be accessible to students at different levels. Undergraduates and graduate students in anthropology, development, and African studies, as well as professionals in these fields, will find this a useful read."
Making the Mark was also included in a Washington Post list of summer reads earlier this summer.