The Congo Basin is in located in what is known as Central Africa, in the region west equatorial Africa. Before colonialization and still till this day scarification was practiced. The Congo holds some of the worlds most complex scarification methods and designs. The Body modification process is usually just talked of as a way to show ones beauty and to eroticize. However it also had to with ones place in society, it dealt with memory. It showed social process how people navigation through their community, their affliction. The marks indicated social rank , social status, or martial status. Marks showed if a person with a womb have given child birth. The marks could also be an indicator of a membership in a male or female secret initiatory society. If a person refused to participate in this process of marking, their life would face difficulties and it would be hard for them to participate in social life.
Source for text : The Etribal
1 - Central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lega peoples, ca. early to mid-20th century CE.
2 - Lega woman with facial scarification and elaborate hairstyle, Kabila village, Congo (Democratic Republic), by Eliot Elisofon August 18, 1959 to December 20, 1959.
3 - Old mask - Metal, Wood - Ngbandi, Ngbaka - Democratic Republic of Congo Early / Mid 20th Century
4 - Man of M’Bouaka in Province de l'Equateur. Parmi les M'Bouaka by Casimir Zagourski 1924-1941.
5 - Democratic Republic of the Congo; Luba artist, Attributed to the workshop of the Master of Mulongo, Headrest, Mid-late 19th century. Shot by Franko Khoury.
6 - Illustration of a Baluba negroes from Abiangi
7 - Luba figurine 1909; 1909.29.1
8 - Tabwa artist, Democratic Republic of the Congo, scarification. Photo court. Photographer unknown.
9 - Ubangi region, Congo, Ngbaka. Mask, 19th century. Wood,
10 - Belgian Congo man, 1900-1915. Photographer unknown