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Peul noblewoman (Fulani, Fulbe, Fula) with tattooed lips and gold earrings from a semi-nomadic pastoral settlement in the Hombori region of central Mali, part of the semi-arid Sahel zone that stretches across northern Africa just south of an encroaching Sahara.
High resolution Noritsu Koki slide scan, Asahi Pentax SP Spotmatic, (SMC Pentax Zoom 45~125mm f/4), circa 1976.
Peul women of this region often tattoo their lips, gums and the area around the mouth before marriage, a painful aesthetic practice and rite of passage signifying marital status.
The extravagant gold earrings or "kwottenai kanye" symbolize the wealth and prestige of a husband or family based largely on the ownership of cattle among the semi-nomadic pastoral Peul of this region.
The earrings are also an aesthetic symbol of cultural pride and identity, usually passed on as a gift from a husband to his wife or an heirloom to a daughter on the death of her mother.
The large earrings are made by local smiths or artisans concentrated mostly in the Mopti region of central Mali. They are crafted from a 14-karat bar of gold that is first chiseled and heated over a fire, then hammered into thin blades and twisted into a four-lobe shape.
This proud and elegant Peul woman is likely from the class of “free nobles” (mostly nomadic herders, religious and political leaders, some tradesmen and sedentary cultivators) at the top of a highly stratified caste-based Peul society.
Ethnographers distinguish this class from lower-tiered occupational groups or hereditary “castes” (griot story tellers and song-praisers, artisans, blacksmiths, potters, woodworkers, dress makers) and descendants of slaves (labourers, brick makers, house builders).
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