Indigenous Tattoo Traditions

Humanity through Skin and Ink

Lars Krutak, Sean Mallon

$69.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Princeton University Pres
01 August 2025

Art of indigenous peoples; Body art & tattooing; Society & Social Sciences; Indigenous peoples; Social & cultural anthropology

A beautifully illustrated history of Indigenous tattooing practices around the world

Tattooing within Indigenous communities is a time-honored practice that binds the tattoo recipient to a deeply felt collective history. More than mere decoration, tattoos embody cultural values, ancestral ties, and spiritual beliefs. Indigenous Tattoo Traditions captures ancient tribal tattooing practices and their contemporary resurgence, highlighting a beautiful aspect of humanity's shared cultural heritage.

Transporting readers through history, Lars Krutak explores the art and customs of tattooing across numerous ancestral lands, including Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, the Arctic, Oceania, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Siberia. He illustrates how tattoos function as a form of writing that defines and structures community life, performing as rites of passage, symbols of rank, and signs of marital or religious devotion, among other facets of culture. We are introduced to the heavily tattooed Li women of China's Hainan Island with their elaborate facial and body tattoos, the bold indelible markings of Papua New Guinea's Indigenous peoples, and innovative cultural tattoo practitioners who are rebuilding a skin-marking legacy for future generations to come.

With numerous images published for the first time and an illuminating foreword by cultural historian Sean Mallon, Indigenous Tattoo Traditions opens a window onto one of the world's most vibrant yet misunderstood mediums of human expression.

By: Lars Krutak
Foreword by: Sean Mallon
Imprint: Princeton University Pres
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 222mm,
ISBN: 9780691255392
ISBN 10: 0691255393
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 01 August 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Lars Krutak is an anthropologist, photographer, and writer. A research associate at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, he is host of the Discovery Channel series Tattoo Hunter and the author of several books, including Tattoo Traditions of Asia and Tattoo Traditions of Native North America. Sean Mallon is senior curator of Pacific histories and cultures at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.