Documentary on the ongoing practice of FGM in Mandoul Region in Chad

20/06/2023

Though Chad officially adopted Law 006 penalising female genital mutilation (FGM) in 2002, the practice has only become slightly less common in the last two decades, particularly among the Sara, the largest ethnic group in the Mandoul Region. Why is this? What social factors contribute to maintaining the practice among the Sara? What is the social function of female initiation rites and FGM? What are the collective representations of the status of women who have undergone FGM within the group? How does FGM contribute to a girl’s identity? These are the issues that the documentary will explore via the different ways that the practice is experienced and perceived.

FGM AMONG THE SARA: BETWEEN THE SOCIAL NORM AND WHAT PEOPLE ACTUALLY SAY ABOUT THE PRACTICE

Based on a medium-length format, it will include the accounts of women and men, young and old, whether they are in favour of the practice or are opposed to it. The central objective of the film will be to present what people actually say about the practice, without any external judgement or reinterpretation. It will be made in collaboration with Carol Valade and Yamgoto Laguerre Guile, who are respectively resident correspondents in Chad for RFI and TV5 Monde. It follows on from the study, “Social dynamics and norms related to female genital mutilation in Chad’s Mandoul Region“, by Florence Chatot, Groupe URD’s Social Anthropology expert, which was carried out as part of the ‘PASFASS’ project (Project to socially empower Chadian women via access to health services), funded by the French Development Agency since March 2019.

Filming will begin at the end of June and the documentary is due to be broadcast in early Autumn 2023.

Photo credit: RESILAC (Chad). The people in this photo do not represent the subject of the documentary.

More information on the PASFASS project