circumcision

is, in patrilineal societies, a rite whereby a father demonstrates loyalty to the tribe (or state) by entrusting his son's reproductive potential to elder kinsmen and the 'fraternal interest group'.

Bloch (1986, 1992) also focused on politics, tracing the historical relationship between large-scale circumcision ceremonies and state conquest. Paige & Paige's (1981) encyclopedic, cross-cultural survey of MC reduced the rite to a political oath in potentially fissile, patrilineal societies. A father demonstrates loyalty by entrusting his son's reproductive potential to elder kinsmen and the 'fraternal interest group.' Although the rite often renews group unity (Mercier 1951), it may also enable political realignments (Levine 1959). (422)

K.E. PaigeThinkers

K.E. Paige