Extremism in Traditional Jewelry: Example of Mursi Women

Jewelry is one of the phenomena that are among the indispensables of every society and tradition, both today and in its historical process. Today, although there is no distinction between men and women in jewelry, the connotation of women occurs spontaneously when it comes to jewelry, and it is even evaluated as a whole in the literature. Every society shapes its jewelry concept according to its lifestyle, belief, and geography. In addition to adornment, jewelry carries many meanings and has the feature of conveying nonverbal messages as a means of expression. It is seen as a privilege to be a more recognizable individual or to have a large piece of jewelry for a defining identity within the tribe, a social passport, or even to be able to wear it on one's body. As the pursuit of beauty results in such lip jewelry, this tribe shows that the effort to look beautiful somehow is decisive in the form of the design.

Many communities worldwide are known and differentiated by the jewelry they use. For example, women belonging to the Mursi Tribe, living in the Omo River valley, about 100 km north of the Kenyan border, in the far southwest of Ethiopia, are world-renowned and distinguished by the jewelry they wear. The unique jewelry tradition of Mursi Women is extraordinary (in other words, extreme) jewelry that not every woman can accept and use. In this context, research has been carried out on a phenomenon that has traditionally been going on for centuries, the jewelry culture of Mursi Women, which can be described as extreme, and the existence of similar examples in the world. While conducting vertical research on the Mursi Tribe, which has an extremist tradition, it has been determined that different cultures such as Iran, Iraq, Brazil, Cameroon, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile used labrets for a period of time in their histories. Examples of extremism, called fashion and applied today, also found a place in this research. 

Traditionally, the Mursi tribe adorned themselves through ear and lip plates, bracelets, body scraping, and painting. It is seen that this tribe also used jewelry as a weapon of war. Bracelets worn by women are not just for decoration, they are used to slap wrists in a martial art called bracelet duel. This bracelet is made of iron and adjusted to fit the woman's wrist perfectly. There is an opening on the inside of the wrist with two round projections on either side that are used to strike an opponent. Only strong women can wear these bracelets called Ula. It is found on both wrists of the strongest women. 

The study also had some determinations and outputs in the socio-cultural field. For example, today, where even intangible cultural assets have become commodified, it has become remarkable what the cultural wealth of the Mursi Tribe has evolved into in the 21st century. Some results have also been obtained as to whether the culture, which is the subject of the research, is maintained by the Mursi because it is in their genetic code or because of purely material expectations.  Putting on lip plates, smearing their faces in clay, and wearing baby skirts over their heads is always done to look even weirder and make more money from enchanted tourists. It was observed that they demanded clothes, empty plastic bottles, razors, plastic beads, soap, and balloons when they could not get money. They use most of these materials for a purpose they have developed in their own imagination. For example, balloons are used to store money inside.

It is certain that the Mursi contributed to the country's economy by attracting tourists. On the contrary, it is known that there was tremendous pressure on Mursi women to give up the body modification tradition from various parties, including the Ethiopian government and Protestant missionaries. They are also aware that the Mursi tribe's lip plaques exclude them from education, social and economic well-being. Government officials say lip modifications represent an "uncivilized" tradition that should be abandoned.