Blogorama---Updated April 27th, 2009 12:00pm

Hello

Human flesh is the original social networking site...

As possibly the first canvas upon which humans have inscribed, skin has been a subject of continuous interest in Anthropology, from the early descriptions of “exotic people” to postmodern theorizing about the body in contemporary society, a subject that theorists such as Michel Foucault and Claude Levi-Strauss have exhaustively elaborated on. I believe such research is relevant to my own inquiries, and plan on keeping the subjects of both the body and identity in the scope. In fact, it is my theory that the profusion of tattooing, especially before the institution of blogging, is the original myspace. The body, the skin, is a space that is proprietary of the person on the one hand, and the utilization of the skin as a “forum” of visual self-expression, on the other.

The origins of the academic discipline of Anthropology were rooted in the study of the exotic “other”. The ritual institution of tattoo has been a scholarly interest since the beginning of Anthropology as a discipline. These first anthropological pursuits were structured categorically around perceived identity. Recently, scholar’s interests have turned to more complex notions of modernity, authenticity and representation. The word “tattoo” literally translates to “to mark.” The practice, however, is a tad more intensive then simply marking the skin. Tattooing is inserting pigment into punctures in the epidermis, commonly with a needle (though any sharp object may be employed) to produce a permanent design. As you might imagine, pain is involved.

The tattoo industry takes many forms all over the world. It has an extensive diverse history rich in cultural traditions. All nations have their own stylistic background and body art history. It is my goal to use this space, to express these histories culturally, practically, and aesthetically. Furthermore, drawing from the traditional structural-functional discourses of ritual, I propose the practice of tattoo to be a form of rite of passage. From this analytic standpoint of tattoo, along with the historical tradition of the art, the custom can be deconstructed into its proverbial ritualistic stages. I desire to elucidate how a person goes into a tattoo shop and leaves transformed.

Likely areas of discussion include transcription, (trans)culturation and (trans)formation of the body. Future themes will include symbolism, mysticism and world view. Also, the existing contemporary literature on tattoo such as Victoria Pitts, Nikki Sullivan and Arnold Rubin will be analyzed and used to initiate further dialogue. As a Visual Anthropologist, I will be conducting participant observation and interviews and providing ethnographic data (written and visually documented) for those with curiosity towards the subject in and of tattooing as well as my academic field. I am hoping to include narratives of both tattoo artists and tattoo recipients to express the subjectivity of the institution, provide pictures of tattooings, as well as discuss where tattoo fits into postmodern cultural theory. The experience I have already had in the specific world of tattooing has led me to see tattoos as, and here I quote myself, “public communications of private narratives”. There are an infinite number of reasons/motivations to get a tattoo, so the question of why is subjective. However, “why” provides a splendid opportunity for fascinating discourse. The stuff that anthropological dreams are made of.

Who's Talking Tattoo?

After my initial posting, it seemed pertinent that I should try to find other blogs out there if I indeed want to become a part of "a larger conversation" of tattoo. In searching for blogs that I thought might be relevant to my own, I stumbled upon "Tattoo Blog". At first, I scoffed at the title, thinking it was ridiculously vague. As it is no secret that my experience in the blogosphere is somewhat minute... okay non existent (see first essay-like post), and after scrutinizing "Tattoo Blog's" different posts, I realized how liberating a vague blog title could be. This blog is about tattooing in the broadest sense. In fact, there are different authors (7 bloggers) who proceed to display "cavemen ramblings" (a term I borrowed from one of the bloggers, MJones) from an array of perspectives. From science and technology and medical suggestions/opinions to "how to" material; as long as it is somewhat related to tattoo, it belongs on the blog. The most recent posts touch on politics,artists, skin, celebrity gossip, and even conspiracy theory. Not to mention, tattoo "do's and don'ts".

This blog is obviously related to my own endeavors. I can navigate through and find certain posts that match my own areas of interest, or I can see what else people have to say about tattoo. My own blog's theme is more theoretically driven, and not as dialectic as an open topic like "Tattoo Blog". The flavor and fervor of these bloggers is stirring to me, as I have no idea what I'm doing here in the blogosphere. Each log-in or google search, to me, is a learning experience. "Tattoo Blog" has showed me that there are ways to have a specific audience (people who are interested in tattoos) and also be interesting to others (by means of colorful language... aka "caveman ramblings"). The most important thing I got from reading this blog, and any blog (I think I have read 3?), is that the blogosphere is dialogue driven, hence the text should reflect a conversation.

Unfortunately, where I'm at now is still what one in the Web 2.0 religion would rank as amateur status... or a newb... or is it noob? That being said, I believe that the frequency of postings is "high", as there appears to be at least one a day, and according to technorati, they rank 4,978,471... which is also a high number... so... good? Oh wait, I was just informed high number on rank is bad...whoops. I do know that these bloggers are interested in tattoo, and keep their eyes and ears open to any news relating to tattoo. For instance, Dr. Hook's post "Tattoos By Big Brother" is all about a new ink technology. Dr. Hook explains what it is, RFID ink or radio frequency identification ink, a product that will be injected into skin and used to track animals. He proposes the inventors are using animal tracking as a ruse, and will eventually be violating human rights. He likens the possibility to that of the Nazi's use of tattoos in tracking the Jews/Gypsies and other unfortunate bystanders during the Holocaust. On a completely different train of thought, MJones posts about the detriment the sun can cause on tattoos in "(Don't) Fade to Black". Like Dr. Hook, MJones discusses a product in the world of tattoo, a treatment called "Tattoo Inkgaurd" to prevent sun damage. It's interesting that these two posts are back to back, it makes for entertainingly dynamic and informative reading.

If you're having one of those days where you just want to peak into a larger conversation having to do with tattoo, in one way or another, I recommend checking it out. If by any chance you want to talk about the sociogenisis of tattoo, and get some theoretical perspectives I recommend sticking with me. It's your choice...

Voice

Body Tattoo- blog about tattoo art is a straight forward title for a straight forward enterprise. The voice behind the posts was a little less forthright, as it took me a few posts to try and determine who is speaking. In fact, it took 9 posts for me to figure out Body Tattoo's author was a guy named Bill. It took one posting to figure out he lives where it is cold, because a person living there would need gloves (the first posting was about a tattoo he spotted on a woman's ungloved hands). It took four posts to grasp that this glove wearing Bill lives in New York, as he mentions doing his regular "quick pass" through Penn Station. All in all, I would say that New York Bill operates as though he has a regular slew of Body Tattoo readers. This is the impression I get through his candid manner, and his lack of desire to fill in the details.

New York Bill tries to come off as an expert on tattoos, though I'm not quite sure why. There does not appear to be a life history or credentials of any sort. I guess the medium of blogging allows for this sort of expertise. Not that Bill is pretentious, far from it. He writes simply, utilizing laymen's terms and even commonplace nomenclature like "nifty" or "gee".

One posting is a response to a question of healing normalcy. The answer to the girl is concise at first, setting her at ease about her question of how well her butterfly tattoo was healing. Then it throws in an extra bit of advice, telling her to go to the doctor and see if her slow tattoo healing had to do with some disease like diabetes or a vitamin deficiency. Needless to say, I found the two part answer contradictory. At the bottom of the post was a link, displayed as "link" without explanation, so I clicked on it, and came to find that the entire posting was a question and answer post from about.com... nothing to do with NY Bill. Why did he choose to include it? Well, the title is QOW: Tattoo Healing Slowly, Color is Dull, so question of the week? It makes sense, but why not have his own forum for questions that he can answer on his own tattoo blog?

This got me wondering about his largest recent posting on Sailor Jerry. The posting has an authoritative voice, as it is a life history of one of the "founding fathers" of tattoo. The post is well written, though arrogant at times, including one sentence that made the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up, "He did more for the ancient art than any other single person". My interpretation was, NY Bill is clearly a big fan of Sailor Jerry. Well, this may very well be the case, however, this post, too, had been transplanted to Body Tattoo. Ahem.

Now, what does appear to be his own brainchild, is something called "Tattoosday". This is where Bill spots a tattoo bearer on the street, interviews and photographically documents them. These postings are where his rich material is revealed. This is where he has a voice. He is interested in why people get the tattoos that they have, as well as why they have or don't have tattoos period. He includes circumstances as to where they met, how the person received him, and his own thoughts on their choices.

If this blog were entitled Tattoosdays, I'd be a bigger fan. Oh, and not that it has an effect on how I perceive him, but NY Bill's linking strategies make me feel like some sort of linking savant. The only ones he has are after his posts, and cleverly projected as "link", or if there are more, "this link" and "that link".

NY Bill's voice is like that neighbor that everyone has. He's nice enough. You say hi to him when you see him in the hallway, or outside walking his dog. But, it's not like you invite him over for dinner to discuss the new propositions on the political scene. You know? For instance... "Mary-Lee appeared in my doorway at the end of the work day with Anthony standing next to her. Mary-Lee’s tattoo was featured here in December. I had never met Anthony before, but Mary-Lee had mentioned his tattoo to me, and she had told him about Tattoosday. He works for one of the vendors our company utilizes for a mailing process." You get what I mean? "Nice chatting with you too, neighbor (and you slowly close the door)."