By using our site, you agree to our collection of information through the use of cookies. To learn more, view our Privacy Policy. To browse Academia. The recent promotion of male circumcision as a public health strategy in settings with low circumcision rates is based on research evidence suggesting that male circumcision provides heterosexual men with 50 to 60 per cent protective benefit against HIV infection.
For the Kikuyu people in Kenya, male circumcision is a cultural ritual and a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. The study explored the male circumcision ritual and practices in Muranga, Kenya and their implications on public health.
A qualitative research design underpinned by an Interpretivist paradigm was employed. Focused ethnographic methodology was used to capture the cultural context of the ritual and its meanings.
Participants were recruited through purposive sampling method. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 13 circumcision mentors, participant observations in three churches and written narratives with 43 male students from six schools.
Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The fi Many rites of passage that exist, circumcision and marriage are intertwined. Marriage and circumcision like other cultural themes have attracted wide scholarship of diverse depths. Such studies have underlined, among others, the nature, forms, types and even the place of the two initiation rites in society. What, however, has not received adequate attention are the re negotiations and contestations between morality and masculinities in the context of male circumcision and marriage.
