Editing Scarification (section)

=== Identity ===
[[File:Restauration de scarification 19-d.lau-F3080.D2174.jpg|thumb|180px|Scarifications on this child's face show his clan membership.]] Scarification can be used to transmit complex messages about identity; such permanent body markings may emphasize fixed social, political, and religious roles.<ref name="randart" /> Tattoos, scars, brands, and piercings, when voluntarily acquired, are ways of showing a person's autobiography on the surface of the body to the world.<ref name="inscribing the body" />

Scarification can also help change status from victim to survivor. These individuals pass through various kinds of ritual death and rebirth, and redefine the relationship between self and society through the skin.<ref name="inscribing the body" />

Many people in certain regions of Africa who have "markings" can be identified as belonging to a specific tribe or ethnic group. Some of the tribes in [[Northern Region (Ghana)|Northern Ghana]] who use the markings are the [[Gonja people|Gonjas]], [[Nanumba people|Nanumbas]], [[Dagomba people|Dagombas]], [[Frafra people|Frafras]] and [[Mamprusi people|Mamprusis]].<ref name=":2" />