Black and white lantern slide showing a Congolese man with extremely swollen glands. He is naked except for a loin cloth. He can be seen with scarification marks on his cheekbones, jawline and forehead. Scarification was a common form of body modification in Africa that conveyed meaning on the body through the inflication and controlled healing of wounds to form particular marks. For men, this could often be a test of endurance, carry symbolic meaning or be a sign of cultural belonging. The man also has a line of hair deliberately cut horizontally across the top of his head. This style could also have symbolic meaning, since hair style carried meanings connected with lifestyle or status amongst the Luba people of the Congo. 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.
Format
lantern slides 8.2 x 8.2cm lantern slides photographs
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