Re: mutilation and ritual

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>With all this talk of a lack of ritual, etc. in Western "tattooing," is
>there anyone out on this list who has actually gotten a tattoo or talked
>to someone who has gotten a tattoo? We seem to be approaching this
>question with an a priori view that Western tattooing has no ceremony,
>symbolism and ritual, and trying to explain why this is, when in fact, I
>would argue just that opposite might be true. If tattooing has no
>symbolism, then why
>bother with "Mother" or a loved one's name? Why get the name removed to
>make a new loved one happy - it must mean something? And as far as
>ceremony, don't Navy guys still get drunk and tattooed as expected? It
>may not elegant, but it might still qualify as ceremony.
> Just my .02.
>Marie Conrad


For a good perspective on how Western people with tattoos feel about them,
have a look at the Re/Search volume Modern Primitives. It deals with other
forms of body alteration too, and contains an article about Mayan tongue
piercing.

Many early ethnographers seem to use "tattooing" and "scarifying"
interchangeably; does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Alice C. Gorman

Department of Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology
University of New England, Armidale NSW 2351
Australia.
(067) 73 2306
e-mail: agorman@metz.une.edu.au

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