A disturbing ornament:understanding the Mursi's lip-plate
by Jean-Baptiste Eczet (Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro)
The Mursi lip-plate is usually seen as a disappearing sign of backwardness. A presentation of comments about this practice made by travelers or reporters, and some propositions made by anthropologists. The lip-plate has several modes of action, all within the praxis of the body to which it is integral. The layers of meaning, pragmatic challenges and the perceptual impacts accumulated by this simple object must be stripped away. This reveals the following : postural adaptation which internalizes the way that men see women, a scar that represents a binding initiation into the feminine condition, a circular form as a permanent synthesis of ephemeral social formations and a so-called « disfigurement » that indicates an aesthetic scheme encompassing humans and livestock.
