Assess The Role Of Tattooing In Non-Western Culture

Tattoos have recently become increasingly popular in youth, due to the hidden meanings and symbolism that they are endowed with. Helen Day’s opinionative blog entry, The Power of Ink, asserts that the significance of tattoos have diminished due to the fashionable aesthetics that tattoos project. A highly casual, yet acknowledging tone characterises her blog entry, which is predominantly catered to young Australian readers who are interested in receiving a tattoo. Accompanying her blog entry is a number of comments which both support and criticise the new phenomenon of tattoos. Poignantly complementing her article is an image of Ta Mako tattoos, a Maori form of body art, and the front cover of the written work “No tattoos before you’re

The word “tattoo” is actually the combination of words from two different cultures. The Polynesian word to strike something, “ta”, and the Tahitian word meaning to mark something, “tatau” (Designboom, 2010). The form of body art known as tattooing has developed artistically, improved technically, and changed stylistically throughout the past two centuries. Not only has the public perception changed over the years, but the methods and machinery used to create these wonderful pieces of art has also changed drastically. Once viewed as only acceptable for sailors, criminals, and circus performers; tattoos, have taken a giant leap from their humble roots. However, they couldn’t have become as popular as they have without the inspirational

My senior project was over the History of Tattooing, I chose this as my topic because Tattoos really interest me with all the different styles and meanings behind them. Some things I already knew about Tattooing is a lot of tribes used tattoos to symbolize things, but I didn’t know what.

Body modifications have existed in our society for centuries and the way in which it is perceived has changed somewhat over the years. But certain stigmas still persists to this contemporary day. One such body modification is the act of inking or marking the skin: Tattooing. Like most body modifications, tattoos are an often misunderstood form of body modification. Despite the stigmas, tattoos have become a unique object of desire to diverse groups of people. But are the popular perceptions of tattoos out of synch with the true meaning behind them? This essay will explore the social and cultural practices of tattooing and the causal connection between the mind and the tattooed body. It will also explore why tattoos engender

Tattooing is the art of marking the skin with indelible patterns, pictures, or legends by making pricks and inserting colored ink. The word itself has its origins in the South Pacific. The art had been referred to as pricking, scarring, or staining until explorer Captain James Cook encountered the indigenous peoples of Tahiti. (Wilkinson 6)

The Oceanic tribes viewed a person as a blend of “life forces, physical substances, and ritual knowledge” that came from multiple sources and were constantly changing. Since they viewed a person as such, they would do ritual tattooing. This was meant to harden the body and be part of the admittance into adulthood. Then one would go through severe pain to have extensive tattooing done to have a rite of passage into ritual empowerment. Some Oceanic tribes would tattoo the whole body, such as the Marquesas, while others would only tattoo the buttocks and thighs. In Figure 11.24, Tomika Te Mutu of Coromandel, shows the nineteenth century Maori Chief covered in facial tattoos. The Maori’s would use a chisel to create such tattoos. Facial tattoos

Second Council of Nicaea banned all body markings as a pagan practice in A.D. 787 (Tattoos). The Maori people had hunted and decapitated each other for their moko tattoos. They used them for trade with Europeans. “Moko tattoos were facial designs worn to indicate lineage, social position, and status within the tribe” (Tattoos). Forensic pathologists mark burned, putrefied, or mutilated bodies.

Tattooing was also popular amongst Maori men of New Zealand, who covered their buttocks, thighs, and faces. Maori men had their faces tattooed by a “moko“ artist, a technique that is unique to the Maori. The pattern was slowly carved into the skin with a chisel, much in the same way a design might be carved into a plank wood. Ink was then be placed in the fresh wounds to create the tattoo. The process, which was extremely painful, was typically done in stages,

The tattoo is a very old form of body modification, but in spite of that there is still a certain rejection towards those who carry them in a visible area of the body, for some it disfigures what has been created in the image and likeness of God while for others associates this with convicts or gang members mainly because they were one of the first groups to use tattoos to differentiate themselves from the rest of society. But also it is true that there is a very limited understanding about this corporal modification that could be one of the reasons why it can not be appreciated as for how it should be. However, modern society reflects the current popularity of tattooing because it has acquired an entirely artistic meaning to a social expression and a way of identity.

Tattooing is found widely on Samoan men and women. “According to Polynesian Cultural Center, man’s tattoo is called a pe'a while a woman's tattoo is called a malu.” A tattoo is the act or practise of marking the skin with patterns, pictures, and legends by making punctures into your skin and inserting pigments. Tattoo is traditional to the Samoan culture and is used by people to help tell a personal story or something that mean a lot to a Samoan person. Samoans also have a particular painting techniques as they have there own idea of painting. There idea of painting is where patterns or pictures are painted on with a natural brown dye taken from a tree. These pictures typically depict abstract and realistic depictions of plant life, shells, fish, turtles, and flowers. They like to depict natural items such as shells as in Samoa they respect everything and take everything for granted. This is a important aspect as it is very unique style as people think art is just painting on a canvas or drawing on paper but the Samoa’s idea is completely unique and nothing like any other

The Samoans are an ethnic group that reside in Oceania, on the islands of Samoa, in an area of Polynesia. Samoa has been occupied by these indigenous people for about 3000 years, when they came from the west, occupying the islands of Fiji and Tonga around the same time (Barnes and Hunt 2005, 243). They carry many traditions with their culture, however, I will be discussing their tradition of tattooing. Tattooing is the process of inserting ink pigment into someone’s skin to create a permanent design on them. For Samoans, tattoos are much more significant than just a pretty piece of artwork, they are, according to Ryman (2004), a right of passage. I will be reviewing the importance of cultural tattoos, the process of being tattooed, and the varying origin stories of how tattooing first came to Samoa. Samoan tattooing matters because it is a cultural tradition that has been practiced in Samoa for over 3000 years (Ellis 2006, 698).

The rise of tattoo culture in the United States is not a significant change in our society, but a fraction of the consequences occurring due to the popularity of social media. The 21st century has seen a shift in morality that has caused tattoos to become more acceptable not only amongst youth but adults as well . This transformation of beliefs is not solely responsible for the rise of tattoo culture. Social media outlets are partly responsible because they are able to produce and execute trends at a phenomenally quick pace . More people wish to appear authentic in order to come across as one who is contemporary, but due to the short lifespan of these crazes, people are desperate to join the latest mania. Thus when one sees something through

The people from Australia ,Indonesia, Philippines, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Walking around I felt a connection with some of the pictures and art work . It had reminded me of the time I lived in Africa for nine months. The handmade artifacts such as mask , war shields and sitting stool made from trees and local thing. What Caught my tension was the young boy with the marks all over his his back . The details under the picture states the following Moria people in New Zealand received tattoos or moko according to status. Cheifs and warriors bore tattoo on there face and many parts of there body, from shoulder to upper legs, but a tattoo on the back was a mark of slavery. Reading that piece about the back tattoos and slavery. Shows how slavery ,control and power happened throughout the world . Right here in America with the African American people. The museum post stayed the Moria of New Zealand cultural had changed with time . Tattooing (moko) was a form of ownership and now it the sense of belonging. The Moria of the 20th century are receiving often combining traditional ,contemporary and modern designs to mark there status and ancestry. It can also be considered as a symbol of the Moria people. Tattoos in 2015 is completely

There is a long list of cultures that utilised tattoos as a form of decoration and communication (Swami, 2011). That said, within some western societies, that historical connection to the tattoo is not that strong. However the art of tattooing has seen a steady growth of its popularity and acceptance, and since the early 1990s, that growth has accelerated dramatically (Caplan, 2000; Cash, 2011; DeMello, 2000; Swami, 2011). The current estimated incidence of tattooing amongst the populations of North America and Europe is approximately 25 percent (Laumann & Derick, 2006; Swami, 2011), with one researcher suggesting those rates could continue to increase to as much as 40 percent of the population (Anderson, 2006).

Maori people originally came from eastern Polynesian and Maori people have different type of body art, which called tattoo in their culture. And Maori people brought this art from Polynesia and this tattoo is very sacred these tattoos are different for Maori men and women. There lot of amount of Maori people has a facial tattoo and some people have whole face they cover with the tattoo. This was the symbol of power, prestige, and status in their culture. In Maori culture there are two types of tattoo making art one is machinery tattoo and other is hand making tattoo. In the Maori language tattoo means Ta-moko and this tattoo artist are highly respect by the Maori culture. And the main tattoo art brought in New Zealand from Captain James cook in the year 1769.tatoo are exported by Europe and they were very interested in threat of Maori tattoo. During the war Maori people want to show their symbol of power, their prestige and protections. In the past year Maori tattoo was making with the knives and chisel and shark teeth or shark born and this way they design the skin.