The Practice of Tattoos

Paper Summary:

The paper explains the origin of the word tattoo and its decorative, spiritual and identifying purposes. The paper portrays the long standing negative associations with tattooing and then goes on to relate that the practice has recently begun to make a comeback in the United States and in Europe. The paper also explains that this is in response to the acceptance and appropriation of tattoos into the white middle and upper classes.

From the Paper:

"Tattoo is a word which carries both stigma and history. The actual practice has been around for thousands of years. Throughout our own history, the practice of tattooing has survived waves of popularity and disapproval. The actual word has its original origins in Polynesian onomatopoeia. Despite hundreds of years of having a negative connotation, tattooing has made a come back in modern times. Over the past thirty or so years, tattooing has begun to regain its position within the structure of society due to its acceptance into mainstream white middle class culture beginning in the 1970's."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Atkinson, Michael. "Tattooing and Civilizing Processes: Body Modification as Self Control." The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology. Vol. 41. 2004.
• Babcock, Phillip (ed). Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language. G. & C. Merriam Company Publishers. Massachusetts. 1976.
• Britannica eds. Encyclopedia Britannica. 15th ed. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. 2003.
• Caroll, Lynne. "Body Piercing, Tattooing, Self-Esteem, and Body Investment in Adolescent Girls." Adolescence. Vol. 37. 2002.
• Demello, Margo. Bodies of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community. Duke University Press. 2000.

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