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I learned about this interesting, disturbing, and traditional practice in class the other day. I'll share it with you guys so we can talk about it.
What is scarification?
Scarifying (also scarification modification) involves scratching, etching, burning / branding, or superficially cutting designs, pictures, or words into the skin as a permanent body modification. In the process of body scarification, scars are formed by cutting or branding the skin by varying methods.
Why do scarification?
The reasons could be aesthetic, religious, or social. For example, scarification has been widely used by many West African tribes to mark milestone stages in both men and women’s lives, such as puberty and marriage. It is also used to transmit complex messages about identity; such permanent body markings may emphasize fixed social, political, and religious roles.
Scarring on the abdomen of women in many tribes is used to denote a willingness to be a mother. Her ability to tolerate the pain of scarring was an indication of her emotional maturity and readiness to bear children. Among modern cultures, scarification is often done as a means to test the body/person's limits, or as a fad.
Scarification as tradition/culture
Scarification, as a cultural activity, is widely performed across Africa. In essence, it is the practice of incising the skin with a sharp instrument,
(such as a knife, glass, stone, or coconut shell) in such a way as to control the shape of the scar tissue on various parts of the body. Among the recurrent formal qualities that can be found in African sculpture, scarification, along with hairstyles, is generally represented idealistically, implying its importance as a major aesthetic and cultural component. Among the Yoruba there is a "veritable connoisseurship" (Kerchache.1988.p280) bestowed upon scarification patterns in sculpture. Not only are they perceived as aesthetically pleasing, they are also functional, for example indicating one's lineage. The criterion of suitability is a significant factor in scarification patterning. Scarification is appropriate only to the human figure and not to the surface of pottery, although some of the patterns and forms are related.
Possible problems with scarification
The most obvious problem is social stigma. People don`t look too kindly on any aggressive form of body modification, whether it`s piercing, tattoo, and much more scarification. Other problems are scarring and keloids. Scarring is of course the ideal effect, but it can aggravate to result in a very unsightly scar. Ideally, it the scar should settle at a light color after some months. Depending on ones genetics and part of the body, it could be uneven in texture, color, it can darken, or it can form keloids. Sacrs could also get ugly as one ages.
Examples of Scarification:
+ Show Spoiler +
Could art be "too much"? What about culture? What about modern people who do this? What do you think guys?
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Wow, I read as "Sacrification" at first.
Still kind of disturbing anyway. :l
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I don't get it, but then the argument "it's just a more extreme tattoo!" shows up and I don't really have a -great- way to de-legitimize it. I think any form of body mod is one's choice and you are perfectly at liberty to do so, but for me personally, I think it's ridiculously stupid and would never consider it.
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Eww sorry, I really don't like how this looks. At least you can still remove tattoo's, doubt fixing this would turn out great. Everyone can do what they like with their own body I suppose..
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As far as it is personal choice by someone with capacity to make them (that begs the question if the fact of willing to do that is not indicative of inability to make sound judgments  ) - whatever floats your boat. As cultural practice it should be eliminated, because all cultural practices are just thinly veiled coercion and in this case the practice is actually health hazard.
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This doesn't really bother me. It's just another way of making tattoos.
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Pretty much every dumbass on the football team at my high school had some sort of terrible cross branded on their arms or chest. Tends to be a pretty good chotch indicator
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Where do we draw the line? I mean, what if your kid walks up to you one day and tells you chopping off his small toe is a new form of art?
I think the amount of permanent damage this kind of art inflicts is too great to be allowed. And yes, I am also against smoking. I think it is utterly disturbing to cut yourself up, for whatever reasons.
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On March 08 2013 02:54 Callynn wrote:
Where do we draw the line? I mean, what if your kid walks up to you one day and tells you chopping off his small toe is a new form of art?
I think the amount of permanent damage this kind of art inflicts is too great to be allowed. And yes, I am also against smoking. I think it is utterly disturbing to cut yourself up, for whatever reasons.
Slightly off topic - but there is a somewhat obscure theory in the scientific community that - in evolutionary terms - the pinky toe is on its way out.
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On March 08 2013 02:54 Callynn wrote:
Where do we draw the line? I mean, what if your kid walks up to you one day and tells you chopping off his small toe is a new form of art?
I think the amount of permanent damage this kind of art inflicts is too great to be allowed. And yes, I am also against smoking. I think it is utterly disturbing to cut yourself up, for whatever reasons.
Why take personal responsibility for parenting a child. Just make it illegal so its not really my fault if my kids does something stupid...
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Scarification modification. I think most people who does that goes way too hard on scars scale, so the look is just bad, but hey, everyone does what he wants.
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as popularized by franck ribery
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so what happens when you dont have any parts left to sacrifice?
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that seems incredibly stupid to be honest, I mean the guy with the raindrop, It looks so bad and I surely hope he will be able to recover it somehow.
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My uncle has had it done to his arm, but it was just a N or Z (changes if you look at different angle, obviously), referring to the first letter of his two kids' names. Some scars seem within reason while others are just stupid. As a tradition, it's simply retarded, but as an aesthetic, I think it can work out okay if you don't mind getting a few cuts here and there.
I'm pretty anti-tradition though. Also, if you make too stupid-looking of a design, it only makes you look like a total idiot instead of giving off this "badass motherfucker" vibe. I think the arm with the Chinese characters (I'm guessing Chinese, but hell if I know loool) looks alright, while the last two just look bad. Especially the final one.
Let's not allow culture and "art" (is that what they call it nowadays?) to run our lives. Just try and think rationally...
Also, requesting OP make a "View spoiler at own risk!" comment for the spoiler, it's quite gruesome.
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Thats if soooooooooooooo disgusting. Some of those must hurt a lot.
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I once had a patient who had traditional African scarification on his face. I asked him what it was and he said it was an old tradition, the elders did that to children. He was around 70 but none of his children had any scare on the face.
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