Abstract Based on fieldwork among Kurds in Norway, this article explores how participants described the presence of female genital cutting (FGC) in Kurdistan as a difficult topic to address in public. Perceptions of how FGC should be addressed ranged from acknowledging and directly confronting it to silencing and rejecting it as a Kurdish practice. The participants associated FGC with a “traditional mindset” and perceptions of female sexuality that did not readily fit into new ideologies of women’s liberation. Based on literature on how to manage a “difficult” characteristic in national identity construction, we argue that the participants’ negotiation of “modern” and “traditional” aspects of national identity is one strategy for dealing with FGC. FGC has the potential for spoiled national identity. However, we find reason to suggest that a condemnation of the practice based on women’s liberation may strengthen the aspects of Kurdish national aspirations that are grounded in human rights and gender equality.

中文翻译：

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谈判女性生殖器切割是库尔德民族认同的一个困难特征

摘要基于挪威库尔德人的田野调查，本文探讨了参与者如何将库尔德斯坦女性生殖器切割术（FGC）的存在描述为一个很难在公共场合解决的话题。对如何解决FGC的认识范围从承认和直接面对FGC到沉默和拒绝它都是库尔德人的做法。参加者将FGC与“传统思维方式”和对女性性行为的认识联系在一起，这些观念并不容易适应妇女解放的新意识形态。基于有关如何管理国家身份建设中“困难”特征的文献，我们认为参与者就国家身份的“现代”和“传统”方面进行的谈判是应对FGC的一种策略。FGC有可能破坏国民身份。然而，