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File:Scarification designs, Congo, ca. 1900-1915 (IMP-CSCNWW33-OS10-14).jpg

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English: Scarification designs, Congo, ca. 1900-1915
  • Black and white lantern slide showing a Congolese man with designs made on his face through the process of scarification, colonial Belgian Congo (present day Democratic Republic of the Congo).
  • Throughout Africa, flat and raised scars were used on the skin in often geometric designs as a form of body modification that reflected life stages, ethnic belonging, a form of enhancing beauty or a test of endurance. The raised scars pictured were probably made by raising skin with a tool and then slicing it with a blade, after which the healing process would be controlled to form the desired shape. The Congo had some of the most intricate scarification designs in Africa, particularly amongst women.
  • For men, scarification was often a sign of endurance and suitability for the battle field. The Tabwa and Luba Bantu-speaking people in the Congo practised scarification. The Tabwa people's philosophy was based on duality, and geometric, symmetrical scarification designs reflected this. Scarification amongst the Luba people was made up of different shapes which, when combined in different ways, created different meanings. Through scarification, meaning is invested in the body thus preserving cultural memory.
  • This slide comes from a collection generated by missionaries working for the Congo Balolo Mission, a mission begun in 1889 under the supervision of the East London Training Institute for Home and Foreign Missions that developed into the interdenominational evangelical mission Regions Beyond Missionary Union after 1900.
Photographer: Unknown
Filename: IMP-CSCNWW33-OS10-14.tif
Coverage date: 1900/1915
Subject (unesco): Indigenous peoples; Ethnic groups
Part of collection: International Mission Photography Archive, ca.1860-ca.1960
Part of subcollection: Photographs from the Centre for the Study of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh, U.K., ca.1900-ca.1940s
Subject (corporate name): Congo Balolo Mission
Repository name: Centre for the Study of World Christianity
Archival file: Volume2/IMP-CSCNWW33-OS10-14.tif
Repository address: The University of Edinburgh School of Divinity, New College, Mound Place, Edinburgh EH1 2LX, United Kingdom
Geographic subject (country): Congo
Format (aacr2): lantern slides 8.2 x 8.2cm
Geographic subject (continent): Africa
Rights: Contact the repository for details.
Part of series: Regions Beyond Missionary Union. Congo Lantern Slides (CSCNWW33/OS10)
Repository email: divinity-CSWC@ed.ac.uk
Date created: 1900/1915
Publisher (of the digital version): University of Southern California. Libraries
Subject (aat genre): portraits
Format (aat): lantern slides; photographs
Access conditions: http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/divinity/research/centres/world-christianity/collections-resources
File: CSCNWW33/OS10/14
Subject (lcsh): Scarification (body marking)
Date 1900/1915 (date created)
Source http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll123/id/78044
Author Unknown authorUnknown author

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