Scars — a bit about scarification and tribal marking in Ghana
When I traveled to Navrongo, in Northern Ghana, one of the first things I noticed when meeting people was the marks/scars that some of them had on their cheek(s). Intrigued, I started asking questions, first to Gabriel (my Ghanaian ‘guide’), who, most of the time, didn’t even notice these anymore, then to the bearers of the marks.
After investigating a bit, it turned out that these scars have different origins. Most of them are tribal marks, some were caused by a medicine meant to prevent convulsions in young children (and to the undiscerning eye, look practically the same as tribal marks), while the origin of others, less frequent, is rooted in superstition: most people in Ghana believe in reincarnation. Some souls are believed to come back several times to inhabit an earthly body. Some people who think that the soul of someone they knew has come back leave a mark on the child’s face (apparently, it could also be on their body). If the child/person dies and the soul comes back again, the body it will inhabit will have the same mark.
None of the people I asked mentioned beautification to explain tribal marks. They only told me that they were used as a way to identify the members of a tribe, which was especially useful in conflicts. Angelina, 26, told me that, had she been given the choice, she would have preferred not to be marked, which is what she chose for her children.
Nowadays, tribal marks tend to disappear. Very few children are marked in cities and towns. However, in some regions this custom is still perpetuated. In Tumu, a small town in the Upper West Region, the Sissala tribe still marks children on the day they are born, as Masahudu recently witnessed. His parents are from Tumu but he was not born there, so his marks are smaller than most Sissala people’s.
It took me a few days to dare to ask people about their marks and photograph them. These marks captivate me; I also like the idea of identification and belonging they convey — but can they be a source of discrimination? — although I would probably have a different opinion or not even notice them if I had been born there.
