Halimata Fofana, author of In the shadow of the city of Rimbaud, breaks the taboo of excision

His novel appeared in bookstores August 24. She recounts the circumcision the author underwent when she was five. A book through which she wants to continue her struggle to make visible the scourge of female circumcision in France.

In In the shadow of the Cité Rimbaud, the writer imagines Maya’s trajectory, from childhood to adulthood. About this fictional character victim of excision at 6 years during a trip to Mali, Halimata Fofana confides: “To Maya, there is a part of me But there is also some of all these women that I met who wrote and who suffered the same thing. “

To miss. When and how did you become aware that your story was not only a personal drama, but also a social issue?

Halimata Fofana. Several years ago when I had a thirty years. I lived in Canada, a society where I felt less judgmental and where women are very present. They run major companies and play a real role in politics. And for this I felt much freer talk about it. So I started doing it a female center in Gatineau, where I was able to express myself freely.

Despite her young age at the beginning of the book, your heroine, Maya, is very mature. She immediately realizes that what is happening to her is serious …

Little Maya tries to look like the others. This is probably why she realizes that something is wrong. And since she is a very young child receptiveVery observer, he understands that he shouldn’t have suffered like this. This is all the more surprising to her that we don’t talk about it, don’t talk about it with her, in her family just like in the society.

In your book, Maya’s mother is a paradoxical figure, halfway between guilty and victim. Why did you choose to dedicate the last pages to it?

The relationship a mother can have with her daughter attracts me a lot. I am particularly fascinated by Médée, this extreme figure of a mother who ends up killing her children to take revenge on her husband. Maia’s motherI think it’s a little bit Medea. She sacrifices her daughters for duty as she herself has been sacrificed. In the book, the mother figure is harsh and brutal, which is why it seemed important to me to show it humanity. I thought it was important for Maya to reconcile, for her leave without getting angry. And implicitly, her mother gives her blessing so that Maya start.

Then as now, I was struck by the fact that the feminists I see or hear don’t talk about excision. While the first freedom for a woman seems to me to be to keep a whole body.

How do you see the literature? As a place of healing? Activism?

For me, literature is first of all a place of beauty. When you read, there is such closeness to the author. It is an almost physical contact, an encounter. I find it very beautiful. Literature is appreciated, tasted, allows you to travel and feed. You learn to think about it. You live a such a wide range of emotions through literature!

Have feminist movements helped you in your struggle? Did they help you heal?

I have never had any contact with feminist movements. They didn’t heal me in anything. Then as now, It strikes me that the feminists I see or hear don’t talk about excision. Instead the first freedom for a woman seems to me to be to maintain a healthy body. However, it is still a problem in French and Western society in general.

Where did you find support?

Support was Celine Dion, which I love deeply. Celine who brought me. There, we are still in her beauty through her voice which is of a beauty. As Maya says, and that’s what I think, Celine’s voice is the ultimate proof of God’s existence. Brings comfort, hope and hope. So my ultimate dream is to meet her.

Do you have the impression that the awareness-raising policies implemented in France on female circumcision are insufficient?

I’m light years from what should be done. I’m not saying nothing is done, but these things done from above do not reach our families. Things are done, but I’m not sure if they fit the audience? To reach people, you need to understand how they work, what their values ​​are. I think I shake things up, you have to break the world your women live in. that they meet, discuss with people other than them. Without necessarily talking about excision: for example, it is a question of talking about one’s children, or even literacy courses. They are little things like that women feel appreciated and feel like people in their own right. Here’s how a new door opens.

Featured image credit: © Franck Crusiaux