An Intimate Rebuke

"A detailed and thoughtful history of Côte d’Ivoire that gives due placement to civilian women who have largely been ignored in the definitive historical monographs. . . . Grillo’s scholarship has groundbreaking strengths. For those interested in religion, her detailed documentation of myth, ritual, secret societies, symbolism, witchcraft, and the appeal to the spiritual domain—and her defense of the inclusion of this knowledge as a requisite in understanding a country’s history—is utterly exquisite. . . . The work is inimitable—Grillo is sensitive, sensible, and devotes attention to detail."

~Dianna Bell, Reading Religion

“Ultimately, Grillo demonstrates how knowledge of the moral authority of women elders remained and remains embedded in West Africa and that women enact FGP to defend not only social equity and justice but also their own rights. An Intimate Rebuke will be required reading for all future analysis of women’s authority and mobilization.”

~Jill E. Kelly, African Studies Review

“Grillo’s work redefines our understanding of the use of ritual and moral values in the current postcolonial political order by focusing on the ignored phenomenon of Female Genital Power.... Grillo’s work is an important contribution to the study of gender, religion, history, and politics, particularly in Côte d’Ivoire but also in the whole West African subregion.”

~Carole Ammann, Religious Studies Review