It Is Our Religion: Gender and Generational Tensions in Conversations about Circumcision as Xhosa Religion in South Africa

Document Type

Journal Article

Role

Author

Published In

Journal of Religion in Africa

Volume

56

Issue

3

First Page

431

Last Page

455

Publication Date

9-23-2026

Abstract

Following medical complications in traditional male circumcision in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, the government intervened to regulate the rite. At the same time, women were beginning to involve themselves in conversations about circumcision, while young men dominated daily life in circumcision schools. This provoked a backlash from traditional leaders who viewed such interventions as desacralizing circumcision. They claimed circumcision was part of Xhosa religion, and they were its only legitimate custodians. This paper argues that these interventions demonstrate that the practice of circumcision is a dynamic expression of lived religion that is subject to struggle, negotiation, and contradiction. Traditional leaders’ insistence on the more orthodox religious foundation of circumcision was a conservative reaction that obscured and smoothed over these contradictions.

Keywords

circumcision; Xhosa religion; Xhosa patriarchy; hegemonic masculinity; hybrid masculinity; traditional leaders

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