Re: Forwarded mail for LISTS.ANTHRO

Mitchell Verter (ST101243@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Mon, 20 Jun 1994 11:46:04 EDT

I am a research assistant for Professor Shaye J. D. Cohen of the Judaic Studies
department at Brown University. We are preparing a class for next year on cir-
cumcision in which we will also be looking at genital alterations in other
cultures (e.g. infibulation and clitorectomies in Islamic North East Africa,
subcision in Australia.) We were wondering if there are any books or articles
which analyze bodily alterations from a general perspective; which discuss why
cultures decide to leave painful marks in the body in the first place.
Although we have found many books which discuss the cultural and sociological
location of these practices, we have found only one book, Bruno Bettleheim's
_Symbolic Wounds_, which actually tries to analyze the practices themselves.
If anyone on this list knows of any more recent discussions of bodily marking,
please email me at st101243@Brownvm.brown.edu or at Mitchell_Verter@Brownvm.Bro
wn.EDU. Thank you for your help.


Yours,
Mitchell Verter