Black and white lantern slide showing a Congolese man with designs made on his face through the process of scarification. 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.
Subject (corporate name): Congo Balolo Mission
Coverage date: 1900/1915
Photographer: Unknown
Publisher (of the digital version): University of Southern California. Libraries
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
