A strong ethnic heterogeneity has made difficult the synthesis of the results of the fieldwork in Malawi (Mangochi district), organized by the Working Group on the FGM of the University of Padua in 2004 and focused on the analysis of FGM. The most important data deal with labial stretching, practiced systematically on the Malawi teenagers during the segregation (chiputu), lasting a few weeks in a hut under the guide of a female instructor (namkungwi) and the (phungu) responsibility of the grandmother. Also the psycho-physical connections and reflections on sexuality are presented.

Different herbs are commonly used in Africa during traditional practices connected to female genital modifications (FGMo) -expansive (genital stretching) and reductive forms (infibulation). The herbal component is an integral part of ritual genital stretching, often carried out in the grassy ground. Usually, these herbs act as lubricants and/or anesthetics to help labial manipulation. In the reductive forms of FGMo (i.e., infibulation), post-intervention herbal compresses, with hemostatic and cicatrizing functions, are placed on the wound. In particular, in the infibulation ritual, substances emitting marked aromatic perfumes are used. In Somalia, in the ùnsi ceremony, incense and myrrh are burned; in Sudan, in the dukhàn ceremony, sandal and acacia woods. These are the specific smoke ceremonies purifying women. In both expansive and reductive FGMo, a deep knowledge about the local herbs is reported, which connects the present African populations with those of the past, from which they probably inherited the knowledge and the utilization of FGMo interventions.

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