I want to briefly mention something here about the"fun resource flakes" topoi widget I had mentioned in my "tour of pageflake" posting. If you haven't heard of it, the Topoi is an antiquated method for thinking. It was invented by Aristotle, and refers to place, like places in your brain, or even places your brain goes when thinking about certain topics. Even more to the point, the topoi mimics how we think of things.
The topoi widget provides a list for analysis:
• change
• contrast
• cause/effect
• form/structure
• values
⁃ morality/ethics
⁃ pragmatic
⁃ social
⁃ spiritual/metaphysical
⁃ political
The topoi is a tool to help you develop your hypothesis. To use different perspectives and stretch out ideas.
It is hard to look at this list and see how this could possibly be helpful, it is better to put the topoi to practice. So here:
Hypothesis:
As tattoo is becoming popularized, does it run the risk of changing from a subcultural practice to an ordinary, mainstream, or even banal convention?
Morality
Tattoo and deviance have historically been impenetrably linked, the question then becomes will deviant behavior become a mainstream convention?
Spiritual
In the Judeo-Christian belief, there is doctrine that explicitly states "thou shalt not mark thyself". As the United States is primarily a Christian oriented nation, what does the profusion of tattoo say about people in regards to their beliefs and practices?
Cause/Effect
As popular culture is in a constant state of ebb and flow, and traditionally subcultural practices that have filtered into mainstream society leaves impressions for generations that follow, how will the future perceive this moment in time when tattoo was an ever-present cultural custom?
The topoi layers on another framework of categorical or systematic ways in which you can model your argument. From one hypothesis, I now have three theses to work off of and expand into entire essays.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Tour of Pageflake
Want to hear about something fantastical? Something that might possibly make your life, oh, just a little bit better? Well, before I go overboard, I want to mention that it's not a magic lamp, or money growing tree, but, it has the same skipping the hard stuff elements... Pageflakes.
Pageflakes is a free application for the internet, and allows you to make that very same internet, more about you. It takes care of your wants and your needs, before you even ask. Pageflakes is working 24/7 just to make sure you have everything you could possibly want, out of the internet that is.
Let me explain, Pageflakes is a page, full of flakes.
Ok, so, I can't explain. But I can tell you about mine...
Since beginning this whole blogging endeavor of mine, I have been deligently trying to navigate my way through this messy sphere called the world wide web. Hoping to improve my strategy to finding anything interesting, or remotely related to my blog topic, I have stumbled across things like socialbookmarking cites, rss readers, and the like. Granted, two months ago, I had never heard the term rss, or socialbookmarking for that matter, but now I am starting to understand there is a thing called metadata, a way of organizing this messy sphere. Again, two months ago, I thought I knew how to "google". That's what I would say if someone asked how internet savvy I was, "Well, I can google". Lo and behold, I was not even googling correctly! I stuck to keywords only, I never tried to think in terms of what others would say about my search topic. Well, now that I have a pageflake, I don't even need to do that anymore. I mean, for my blog topic I don't, I have my pageflake monitoring the internet for me.
My pageflake has different widgets on the same page working full time to do what they are programmed to do. I have divided my pageflake into sections. There are two columns. The left column is my RSS flakes. There are ten in total, and they alternate between tattoo related blogs and/or websites and anthropology related blogs and/or websites. The right column has four different sections. The first (on top) is my BIBLIO flakes, which is actually one flake, a webpage flake, that is connected to citeline a bibliographical webpage. The cite it's specifically connected to is my own annotated bibliography, six sources of which I have already mentioned in my Selected Readings post. The next section is my SEARCH flakes, there are two, universal news search and universal blog search. Both widgets are programmed to be searching for " tattoos and visual anthropology." Below the searching flakes is my section BOOKMARK flakes. This has only one flake, a bookmarking widget, that is hooked up to my del.icio.us account, and displays all the bookmarks that I have made on that socialbookmarking website. Lastly, the bottom section of the left column is my FUN RESOURCE flakes. So far, this too only has one flake. It is a specially designed by the University of Southern California (or Southern Carolina) Topoi widget, that is a resource to help when writing.
I hope that better helps to understanding what I mean by making the internet more about you. Right this second, my rss flakes are updating any new postings to be displayed on my page, and at the same time, any news or new blogs related to tattoos and visual anthropology are also being refreshed. So, when I look at my pageflake, I see a multitude of resources unfolding before my very eyes, all specifically working to get me the information I need to write a well informed blog on a specific topic of interest.
Pageflakes is a free application for the internet, and allows you to make that very same internet, more about you. It takes care of your wants and your needs, before you even ask. Pageflakes is working 24/7 just to make sure you have everything you could possibly want, out of the internet that is.
Let me explain, Pageflakes is a page, full of flakes.
Ok, so, I can't explain. But I can tell you about mine...
Since beginning this whole blogging endeavor of mine, I have been deligently trying to navigate my way through this messy sphere called the world wide web. Hoping to improve my strategy to finding anything interesting, or remotely related to my blog topic, I have stumbled across things like socialbookmarking cites, rss readers, and the like. Granted, two months ago, I had never heard the term rss, or socialbookmarking for that matter, but now I am starting to understand there is a thing called metadata, a way of organizing this messy sphere. Again, two months ago, I thought I knew how to "google". That's what I would say if someone asked how internet savvy I was, "Well, I can google". Lo and behold, I was not even googling correctly! I stuck to keywords only, I never tried to think in terms of what others would say about my search topic. Well, now that I have a pageflake, I don't even need to do that anymore. I mean, for my blog topic I don't, I have my pageflake monitoring the internet for me.
My pageflake has different widgets on the same page working full time to do what they are programmed to do. I have divided my pageflake into sections. There are two columns. The left column is my RSS flakes. There are ten in total, and they alternate between tattoo related blogs and/or websites and anthropology related blogs and/or websites. The right column has four different sections. The first (on top) is my BIBLIO flakes, which is actually one flake, a webpage flake, that is connected to citeline a bibliographical webpage. The cite it's specifically connected to is my own annotated bibliography, six sources of which I have already mentioned in my Selected Readings post. The next section is my SEARCH flakes, there are two, universal news search and universal blog search. Both widgets are programmed to be searching for " tattoos and visual anthropology." Below the searching flakes is my section BOOKMARK flakes. This has only one flake, a bookmarking widget, that is hooked up to my del.icio.us account, and displays all the bookmarks that I have made on that socialbookmarking website. Lastly, the bottom section of the left column is my FUN RESOURCE flakes. So far, this too only has one flake. It is a specially designed by the University of Southern California (or Southern Carolina) Topoi widget, that is a resource to help when writing.
I hope that better helps to understanding what I mean by making the internet more about you. Right this second, my rss flakes are updating any new postings to be displayed on my page, and at the same time, any news or new blogs related to tattoos and visual anthropology are also being refreshed. So, when I look at my pageflake, I see a multitude of resources unfolding before my very eyes, all specifically working to get me the information I need to write a well informed blog on a specific topic of interest.
Monday, March 2, 2009
An Interesting Find
Having been made aware of the bountiful research on tattoos from an anthropological perspective by my kindred socialbookmarking spirit, I now am at ease about my capability to find interesting topics to discuss. My first "interesting find" I have already mentioned in my selected readings post. However, a mere glossing of the article's content I feel does not suffice. I would like to dedicate this entire post to Mary Kosut's well written and fascinating, "An Ironic Fad: The Commodification and Consumption of Tattoos".
The article focuses on the popularization and consumption of tattoo through the lens of the contemporary media, and in turn, the affect on mass culture. She begins with a few societal statistics, stating "The 2001 MSNBC television special, Skin Deep, which examined tattooing
and other contemporary body modifications, reported that twenty percent of the American population is tattooed. Although the validity of this statistic is speculative, a 2002 survey conducted by the University of Connecticut produced similar findings." Though the population of tattoo bearers is a minority, the consumption of the product of tattoo has yielded a booming industry, attracting consumers cross-ethnically and cross-socioeconimically.
Kosut suggests the popularization of tattoo is attributed to its sheer visibility in the public eye, especially, the entertainment industry. She provides examples from box office movies whose main character's are ostentatiously tattooed (anti)heroes. The movie industry is not the only form of popular culture to take on the tattoo craze, high end retailers like Versace and Chanel are using tattoos to promote their companies in advertising campaigns. These ads are "being used to target the present-day leisure classes" and in doing so "indicates an elevation in their (tattoos) cultural status."
Though, as Kosut points out, the product of tattoo is an interesting commodity, simply because of the corporeal character of the product itself. "Tattoos simultaneously decorate the body and permanently modify it. For this reason, tattooing can be conceptualized as an ironic fad-a popular cultural trend that, due to its permanent nature, cannot be as easily discarded as a pair of jeans." Kosut also suggests the danger of the popularization of tattoos, in that like other subcultural turned popular-cultural trends, they run the risk of becoming trite.
The article ends by recognizing the growing interest in tattoo by cultural institutions such as art museums. Through the help of the mass media who contemporaneously portray tattoo as art with aesthetic value, these cultural institutions have accepted tattoo, "blurring the distinctions between high and popular culture".
I will most definitely be using Mary Kosut's concept of the "ironic-fad" in future tattoo research endeavors.
The article focuses on the popularization and consumption of tattoo through the lens of the contemporary media, and in turn, the affect on mass culture. She begins with a few societal statistics, stating "The 2001 MSNBC television special, Skin Deep, which examined tattooing
and other contemporary body modifications, reported that twenty percent of the American population is tattooed. Although the validity of this statistic is speculative, a 2002 survey conducted by the University of Connecticut produced similar findings." Though the population of tattoo bearers is a minority, the consumption of the product of tattoo has yielded a booming industry, attracting consumers cross-ethnically and cross-socioeconimically.
Kosut suggests the popularization of tattoo is attributed to its sheer visibility in the public eye, especially, the entertainment industry. She provides examples from box office movies whose main character's are ostentatiously tattooed (anti)heroes. The movie industry is not the only form of popular culture to take on the tattoo craze, high end retailers like Versace and Chanel are using tattoos to promote their companies in advertising campaigns. These ads are "being used to target the present-day leisure classes" and in doing so "indicates an elevation in their (tattoos) cultural status."
Though, as Kosut points out, the product of tattoo is an interesting commodity, simply because of the corporeal character of the product itself. "Tattoos simultaneously decorate the body and permanently modify it. For this reason, tattooing can be conceptualized as an ironic fad-a popular cultural trend that, due to its permanent nature, cannot be as easily discarded as a pair of jeans." Kosut also suggests the danger of the popularization of tattoos, in that like other subcultural turned popular-cultural trends, they run the risk of becoming trite.
The article ends by recognizing the growing interest in tattoo by cultural institutions such as art museums. Through the help of the mass media who contemporaneously portray tattoo as art with aesthetic value, these cultural institutions have accepted tattoo, "blurring the distinctions between high and popular culture".
I will most definitely be using Mary Kosut's concept of the "ironic-fad" in future tattoo research endeavors.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Socialbookmarking Soulmate
It took a long time to commit, as so many of us in postmodern romances do, but I think I've finally found my socialbookmarking soulmate. I heart bobaker, of citeulike.org. He/She is dreamy... what? I cannot assume bobaker's a male, what if Bob is short for Roberta?
In all seriousness, this whole social bookmarking thing has been a double edged sword for me, the perpetual bungler of all things web 2.0. On the one hand, there are so many and they are so complicated, and you have to understand all this new techno-vocabulary just to navigate your way around them. On the other hand, once you do, they are so helpful.... but back to the first hand, so expansive and wide-ranging.
An academic acquaintance of mine informed me of citeulike, a social bookmarking network for peer reviewed articles only. Which is so perfect, for me, someone who likes libraries, and the concepts of validity, legitimacy, and authenticity.
Next, it was a matter of searching for tattoo tags, or people who had articles, essays or books in their libraries that they had categorized as having to do with tattoo. There were many, though most were having to do with skin and dermatology (a perfectly fascinating science on its own, just not for me). So, I included culture to the keyword search, and voila! Introducing, bobaker, and his 14 articles relating to tattoo and culture. Bobaker is not meticulous in his library upkeep, he doesn't add comments or organize in a overtly coherent way (soulmate). Bobaker has 40 articles in all, with a good majority to do, not only with tattoo and subculture, but psychology and philosophy as well (sigh). Bobaker even has cinematography and horror as tags (louder sigh), the former having to do with my visual anthropologically inclined side, and the ladder to do with my guilty pleasure customarily clandestine side.
What were the chances? Well if you believe in fate, then I suppose there were none, and it was meant to be. I was destined to stumble upon babaker, and glean scholarly articles on my specific subject matter off of him/her. Although, that leads me into reverie... what have I ever done for bobaker?
In all seriousness, this whole social bookmarking thing has been a double edged sword for me, the perpetual bungler of all things web 2.0. On the one hand, there are so many and they are so complicated, and you have to understand all this new techno-vocabulary just to navigate your way around them. On the other hand, once you do, they are so helpful.... but back to the first hand, so expansive and wide-ranging.
An academic acquaintance of mine informed me of citeulike, a social bookmarking network for peer reviewed articles only. Which is so perfect, for me, someone who likes libraries, and the concepts of validity, legitimacy, and authenticity.
Next, it was a matter of searching for tattoo tags, or people who had articles, essays or books in their libraries that they had categorized as having to do with tattoo. There were many, though most were having to do with skin and dermatology (a perfectly fascinating science on its own, just not for me). So, I included culture to the keyword search, and voila! Introducing, bobaker, and his 14 articles relating to tattoo and culture. Bobaker is not meticulous in his library upkeep, he doesn't add comments or organize in a overtly coherent way (soulmate). Bobaker has 40 articles in all, with a good majority to do, not only with tattoo and subculture, but psychology and philosophy as well (sigh). Bobaker even has cinematography and horror as tags (louder sigh), the former having to do with my visual anthropologically inclined side, and the ladder to do with my guilty pleasure customarily clandestine side.
What were the chances? Well if you believe in fate, then I suppose there were none, and it was meant to be. I was destined to stumble upon babaker, and glean scholarly articles on my specific subject matter off of him/her. Although, that leads me into reverie... what have I ever done for bobaker?
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Selected Readings
The practice of tattoo itself has a long history, dating back to archeological findings of 5000 year old mummies. “There is no known culture in which people do not paint, pierce, tattoo, reshape or simply adorn their bodies.” (Gay and Whittington 2002, 14). Due to the lengthy duration of the practice, as well as the immense cross-cultural existence, there is a plethora of scholarly literature on the subject in/of tattooing. One well informed book that I have in the past used as a reference is Kathlyn Gay and Christine Whittington's Body Marks: Tattooing, Piercing and Scarification. It is a comprehensive overview of the art of tattoo (and piercing and scarification).
The contemporaneous work concerning tattoo is less historically driven, and more analytical of tattoo's position within social contexts. Nikki Sullivan's Tattooed Bodies: Subjectivity, Textuality, Ethics and Pleasure is an exemplary tome on the subject in/of tattooing in the postmodern theoretical era. Instead of offering a chronicle of what the tattooed "other" signifies, she defies the expectations of a researcher, presenting a nuanced tattooed body, proposing the very notion of searching for concrete textuality as duplicitous. "My aim, rather, is to seduce, to affect, the reader and to open up the possibility of diverse and infinite voyages to destinations that are beyond the scope of my imagination and this book, rather than to convince the reader, through traditonal means of argument, that knowledge is possible, and that since I discovered it, all that is left for you to do is to witness the truth of my claims" (Sullivan 2001, 11).
As I have mentioned in previous posts, the tattoo process is essentially mutilation of 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. The process is painful, and sometimes dangerous. Armando Favazza’s Bodies Under Siege: Self-Mutilation and Body Modification in Culture and Psychiatry and Kim Hewitt’s Mutilating the Body: Identity in Blood and Ink provide psychological discourses of elective pain. Favazza defines self-mutilation in his preface as, “the deliberate destruction or alteration of one’s body tissue without conscious suicidal attempt” (1992). Favazza is the founder of cultural psychiatry, and approaches the vagueness of self-mutilation within the overarching web of culture. He divides self-mutilative behaviors into two groups, culturally sanctioned and deviant. To him, tattoo exists in the former category. Kim Hewitt focuses mainly on selfmutilative actions such as tattoo, "as acts that asked to be witnessed- acts not only of self-expression but self-innitiation and sometimes self-medication" (Hewitt 1997, 2).
Two other sources worth mentioning are actually scholarly articles from anthrosource.net. The first is Mary Kosut's "An Ironic Fad: The Commodification and Consumption of Tattoos", an interesting take on the popularization of tattoo, and how the once underground or underclass practice has transformed into an art form of "highculture". She concentrates on how tattoo is portrayed by the media, and in turn how the media shapes mass culture. The second is Judith Sarnecki's "Trauma and Tattoo", an article that touches on my own inquiries and research in the world of tattoo. The article proposes certain motivations behind recieving tattoos, presupposing the desire to be tattooed as the tattoo recipient's psychological coping strategy for dealing with traumatic experiences.
Favazza, Armando R. 1996. Bodies under siege : Self-mutilation and Body Modification in Culture and Psychiatry. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press.
Gay, Kathlyn and Whittington, Christine. 2002. Body Marks: Tattooing, Piercing, and Scarification. Twenty-First Century Books.
Hewitt, Kim. 1997. Mutilating the Body: Identity in Blood and Ink. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press.
Kosut, Mary. 2006. "An Ironic Fad: The Commodification and Consumption of Tattoos". Journal of Popular Culture 39, no. 6 (December): 1048, 1035.
Sarnecki, Judith. 2005. "Trauma and Tattoo". March 17. http://www.anthrosource.net/doi/abs/10.1525/ac.2001.12.2.35.
Sullivan, Nikki, and Nikki Sullivan. 2001. Tattooed Bodies: Subjectivity, Textuality, Ethics, and Pleasure. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
The contemporaneous work concerning tattoo is less historically driven, and more analytical of tattoo's position within social contexts. Nikki Sullivan's Tattooed Bodies: Subjectivity, Textuality, Ethics and Pleasure is an exemplary tome on the subject in/of tattooing in the postmodern theoretical era. Instead of offering a chronicle of what the tattooed "other" signifies, she defies the expectations of a researcher, presenting a nuanced tattooed body, proposing the very notion of searching for concrete textuality as duplicitous. "My aim, rather, is to seduce, to affect, the reader and to open up the possibility of diverse and infinite voyages to destinations that are beyond the scope of my imagination and this book, rather than to convince the reader, through traditonal means of argument, that knowledge is possible, and that since I discovered it, all that is left for you to do is to witness the truth of my claims" (Sullivan 2001, 11).
As I have mentioned in previous posts, the tattoo process is essentially mutilation of 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. The process is painful, and sometimes dangerous. Armando Favazza’s Bodies Under Siege: Self-Mutilation and Body Modification in Culture and Psychiatry and Kim Hewitt’s Mutilating the Body: Identity in Blood and Ink provide psychological discourses of elective pain. Favazza defines self-mutilation in his preface as, “the deliberate destruction or alteration of one’s body tissue without conscious suicidal attempt” (1992). Favazza is the founder of cultural psychiatry, and approaches the vagueness of self-mutilation within the overarching web of culture. He divides self-mutilative behaviors into two groups, culturally sanctioned and deviant. To him, tattoo exists in the former category. Kim Hewitt focuses mainly on selfmutilative actions such as tattoo, "as acts that asked to be witnessed- acts not only of self-expression but self-innitiation and sometimes self-medication" (Hewitt 1997, 2).
Two other sources worth mentioning are actually scholarly articles from anthrosource.net. The first is Mary Kosut's "An Ironic Fad: The Commodification and Consumption of Tattoos", an interesting take on the popularization of tattoo, and how the once underground or underclass practice has transformed into an art form of "highculture". She concentrates on how tattoo is portrayed by the media, and in turn how the media shapes mass culture. The second is Judith Sarnecki's "Trauma and Tattoo", an article that touches on my own inquiries and research in the world of tattoo. The article proposes certain motivations behind recieving tattoos, presupposing the desire to be tattooed as the tattoo recipient's psychological coping strategy for dealing with traumatic experiences.
Favazza, Armando R. 1996. Bodies under siege : Self-mutilation and Body Modification in Culture and Psychiatry. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press.
Gay, Kathlyn and Whittington, Christine. 2002. Body Marks: Tattooing, Piercing, and Scarification. Twenty-First Century Books.
Hewitt, Kim. 1997. Mutilating the Body: Identity in Blood and Ink. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press.
Kosut, Mary. 2006. "An Ironic Fad: The Commodification and Consumption of Tattoos". Journal of Popular Culture 39, no. 6 (December): 1048, 1035.
Sarnecki, Judith. 2005. "Trauma and Tattoo". March 17. http://www.anthrosource.net/doi/abs/10.1525/ac.2001.12.2.35.
Sullivan, Nikki, and Nikki Sullivan. 2001. Tattooed Bodies: Subjectivity, Textuality, Ethics, and Pleasure. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
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.
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...
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)."
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)."
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
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".
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