Tattooing: the History - Essay Example

appears here] appears here] appears here] appears here] Tattooing Tattoos are prompted by "the primitive desire for an exaggerated exterior" and are manifestations of deep psychological motivations. They are "the recording of dreams," which simultaneously express an aspect of the self and recreate and mask the body. (Albert Parry, 1933) As products of inner yearnings, self-concepts, desires, and magical or spiritual beliefs, designs on the human body formed by inserting pigments under the skin have been crafted by nearly every culture around the world for thousands of years. Definitive evidence of tattooing dates to the Middle Kingdom period of Egypt, approximately 2000 B.C., but many scholars believe that Nubians brought the practice to Egypt much earlier. (Robert S. Bianchi, 1988) There was little anthropological attention to tattooing in the early part of the century because of preconceived notions of its insignificance to cultural analysis. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Maya, Toltec, and Aztec cultures performed tattooing and scarification, and that the practice is thousands of years old in Asian cultures. (Arnold Rubin, 1988) Although tattooing was practiced in pre-Christian Europe, the word tattoo does not appear in English until Captain John Cook imported it after a journey to the Pacific Islands in the eighteenth century. Captain Cook claimed the Tahitians used the word tatua, from ta, meaning "to strike or knock," for the marks they made upon their bodies. Captain Cook recorded this word as "tattaw." The Polynesian word tapu, from which the word taboo derives, indicates the status of the person while being tattooed. (Irving Goldman, 1970) Although no connection has been made between the words tattoo and taboo, it seems highly likely that they are related. While enduring the process of acquiring socially meaningful marks, the tattooee is being formed and shaped into an acceptable member of society. Prior to the completion of the tattoos the person is not only physically vulnerable because of the possibility of contamination during the penetrating process of tattooing but symbolically vulnerable as well. No longer without a tattoo, but without a finished tattoo, the person's body and therefore the self are not yet completed. The person is a liminal entity not yet in society and therefore taboo. (E.S. Craighill Handy and Wil lowdean Chatterson Handy, 1924) Although the origin of tattooing is uncertain, anthropological research confirms that tattooing, as well as other body alterations and mutilations, is significant in the spiritual beliefs of many cultures. Various peoples tattoo or scarify during puberty rituals. In traditional South Pacific Tonga society, only priests could tattoo others and tattoos were symbolic of full tribal status. (Mircea Eliade, 1958) Eskimo women traditionally tattooed their faces and breasts and believed that acquiring sufficient tattoos guaranteed a happy afterlife. In many African cultures scars indicate social status and desirability as a marriage partner. Scarification patterns often identify the bearer as a member of a specific village. Many of these practices are changing and fading as Western influences enter African cultures. (William D. Piersen, 1993) Until the mid-nineteenth century, Cree Indians living on the Great Plains tattooed for luck, for beauty, and to protect their health. Cree men with special powers received tattoos to help them communicate with spirits. A dream conferred the privilege of receiving a tattoo, which would be inscribed during a ceremony conducted by a shaman authorized to tattoo. (Nancy A. Gutierrez, 1989) The tattooing instruments were kept in a special bundle passed on from shaman to shaman. The ability to withstand the painful and tedious process of tattooing, which often lasted two to three days, confirmed the tattooee's courage. Blood shed during the process was believed to possess magical power and was absorbed with a special cloth and kept for future use. (Henry John Drewal, 1988) In a Liberian initiation ceremony "the novices ... are resuscitated to a new life, tattooed, and given a new name ... they seem to have totally forgotten their past existence." The ritual recreates the flesh bequeathed to initiates by their parents and experienced during childhood. The physical change marks a symbolic rebirth into a new spiritual, social, and physical reality as well as a real physical change. (Clinton Sanders, 1989) Generally, however, tattoos in Russia, as in the West, have fallen within the purview of sailors, rank-and-file soldiers, and criminals. The first Russian known to have voluntarily tattooed himself was the early nineteenth-century traveler Fedor Tolstoi (known as "the American," presumably for his adventurous spirit), who was tattooed by a Polynesian artist in exchange for two axes. By the late nineteenth century, Russian prisoners exiled to Sakhalin Island were decorating themselves with "Sakhalin pictures," establishing a tradition of tattooing as the art most intimately linked with the prison. Although Soviet sailors and soldiers routinely tattooed themselves, nowhere was the sign system as elaborately developed as it was in the penal system. (Clare Anderson, 2004) Even in other spheres of Soviet life where tattooing was common among jockeys, drivers, stablehands, and other official and unofficial horse-track employees tattooing suggested a prior prison stint (and the tenuous employment record that followed prison). In short, tattooing and the gulag were inseparable concepts, whether or not the individual collector had actually spent time in prison. (Herman Melville, 1951) Throughout the Soviet period, information about the tattoo subculture was entirely anecdotal, but since the fall of communism in 1991 several small compilations of prison tattoos have appeared, all sections of larger compendia of prison culture, including argot, proverbs, card games, coded toponyms, hand signals, cryptography, ciphers, encoded speech, a prison Morse code, epistolary etiquette, and other sign systems. These rare volumes, intended for police investigators, prison staff, journalists, the curious general reader, and (in one case at least) for the criminal community itself, offer illustrations and cryptic "translations" of the tattoos' meanings, but no analysis of the sign system. Tattooing and body piercing have become increasingly prevalent in popular culture over the last 30 years. Such practices are considered forms of body modification along with branding, cutting, binding, inserting implants to alter the appearance and form of the body, plastic surgery, and gender reassignment. Martin (1997) perceived adolescence as a time when body modification becomes particularly appealing as adolescents struggle for identity and control over their changing bodies. Particularly noteworthy is the rise in body piercing and tattooing among adolescents with current estimates among adolescents ranging from 10% to 25%. Debate persists about the motivation of persons who engage in such body modifications as tattooing and piercing. Some assume that body piercings and tattoos are nothing more than fashion accessories. For example, Sweetman (1999) noted in his interviews with tattooed and pierced adults that most referred to their body art as decorative accessories. According to Sweetman, these components fit into the postmodern world of fashion where "anything goes." Among tattooed adults, Houghton et al. (1995) noted that most participants in their study had obtained their tattoos in late adolescence and were motivated to do so by the desire to improve appearance and because they perceived tattooing as a viable art form. Alternative explanations for body modifications, particularly for piercing and tattooing, abound; predominate among these interpretations are that: (a) body art constitutes a statement of control or ownership over the body in a cultural context characterized by accelerating commodification and alienation and is, therefore, an expression of individuality and uniqueness; (b) body art is a means of identifying and affiliating with a group; and (c) body art is a manifestation of self-destructive impulses and can, therefore, be seen as a form of self-mutilatory behavior. (Roxanne Anderson, Lynne Carroll, 2002) Thus this magical use of the body reiterates the idea that physical and spiritual existence and their interactions are deeply entwined. Reference: Albert Parry, 1933. Tattoo: Secrets of a Strange Act as Practiced among the Natives of the United States. (New York: Simon & Schuster), 1-2. Arnold Rubin, 1988. "Introduction: Asia," Marks of Civilization (Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, University of California), 107. Clare Anderson, 2004. Legible Bodies: Race, Criminality and Colonialism in South Asia; Berg Clinton Sanders, 1989. Customizing the Body: The Art and Culture of Tattooing (Philadelphia: Temple University Press), 16. E.S. Craighill Handy and Wil lowdean Chatterson Handy, 1924. Samoan House Building, Cooking, and Tattooing, Bulletin 15 (Honolulu: Bernice P. Bishop Museum). Henry John Drewal, 1988. "Beauty and Being: Aesthetics and Ontology in Yoruba Body Art," Marks of Civilization (Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, University of California), 83-96. Herman Melville, 1951. Typee; Dodd, Mead and Company Irving Goldman, 1970. Ancient Polynesian Society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), 256. Mircea Eliade, 1958. Birth and Rebirth: The Religious Meanings of Initiation in Human Culture, trans. Williard Trask (New York: Harper), 18, 31, 43 Nancy A. Gutierrez, 1989. "Philomela Strikes Back: Adultery and Mutilation as Female Self-Assertion," Women's Studies 16: 429-43. Robert S. Bianchi, 1988. "Tattoo in Ancient Egypt," Marks of Civilization (Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, University of California,), 21-28. Roxanne Anderson, Lynne Carroll, 2002. Body Piercing, Tattooing Self-Esteem, and Body Investment in Adolescent Girls; Journal article; Adolescence, Vol. 37 William D. Piersen, 1993. Black Legacy: America's Hidden Heritage (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press), 83. Read More