African Body Modification

Many African tribes are no stranger to the practice of body modification. The Mursi and Sara tribes are well known for their stretched ear lobes and large lip plates. The lip plates carry variousmeanings specific to the practicing tribe.  “Archeological evidence indicates that labrets have been independently invented no less than six times, in Kamchatka (8700 BC), Iran (6400 BC), the Balkans (5000 BC), Sudan (3700 BC), Mesoamerica (1500 BC), and Coastal Ecuador (500 BC)[1]. Today, the custom is maintained by a few groups in Africa and Amazonia.” Africans would have very little clothingand this leaves their scars, body painting, jewelry and tattoos open to be seen by their fellow tribe members. Scarification is when the skin is deliberately cut open into various shapes and patterns that will leave scars on their body for life. If they want a tattoo of raised designs they would rub things like charcoal into the freshly cut grooves. Scarring is both expensive and very painful but highly sought after in these tribes. Each social group seems to have defined its own rules around the ritual. Tribes living in present day Ethiopia, Nigeria, Zaire, and other places, still practice this even though modern-day African governments has placed a ban on the practice of scarification.

          In a National Geographic documentary called “Taboo” they show a variety of groups practicing scarification and tattooing. In one of the example there is a girl who is thirteen and her passage into adulthood is done by extensive facial tattooing. She sits and has various designs carved into her face that are then rubbed with an ash and charcoal mixture that cause the coloration. The designs she picks are those that stand for being beautiful, for being a good wife, and a good mother. The meanings are quite beautiful and the ritual of facial tattooing is required of all tribe members entering adulthood. When she finishes she exclaims how proud she is and how beautiful she feels. Her grandmother then says that she was neither a woman nor beautiful before but now that she has undergone this extensive tattooing she is seen as both. She is now fit to marry. Men will undergo a similar ritual in their passage into manhood; however their scars typically signify feats and achievements in relation to things such as hunting. 

            In another tribe the members receive a variety of scars depending on what stage of their life they are in and this includes being born. It is not uncommon for the newborn children to receive facial scarring and for the women to receive scarring across their stomachs and under their breasts when they reach sexual maturation. A woman without these scars on her body would be seen as ugly, poor, socially inept and undesirable. There have also been reports of genital mutilation that occurs at birth or as a passage into maturity where the female's clitoris is removed and the male's foreskin is removed.

images from google

"Taboo | National Geographic Channel." National Geographic Channel - Animals, Science, Exploration Television Shows. 11 Mar. 2005. Web. 08 Mar. 2011. <http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/taboo/all/Overview#tab-Videos/01604_04>.