African tribe where women have clay disk in lower lip

[Dom Tuk]

Has anyone seen any African woman in England who has a clay disk in their lower lip. Its a tribal custom and the lip gets grossly extended due to the disk. Has any such person been seen in England either as a visitor or resident.

[andy hughes]

I would guess that the tribes that still use this practice are sufficiently isolated that the notion of foreign travel would simply never be ain issue for them, but that is just an educated guess.

[zmudge]

I think that this sort of "freak" show has long since died out, but I have a clear recollection of seeing a group of these together with some giraffe-necked African women on exhibition at Bentall's in Kingston-on-Thames before the War in 1938.

[Drusilla]

What an interesting question. I did a little reading up on this and was surprised to discover that the practice may not solely be about the social status of women in the Surma people of Ethiopia, but may have started to deter slave traders. Apparently, in Brazil, in the Kayapo tribe, it is the men who wear lip plates and they are a sign of a valiant warrior. Thanks Dom Tuk for getting me interested in something I knew nothing about.

[Tatty Rollox]

....... and here is a plate lipped woman, and here is a giraffe necked woman ..............