Tattooing the World

Pacific Designs in Print and Skin

Juniper Ellis

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Hardback

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English

Columbia University Press
03 March 2008

Body art & tattooing; Social & cultural history; Sociology: customs & traditions

In the 1830s an Irishman named James F. O'Connell acquired a full-body tattoo while living as a castaway in the Pacific. The tattoo featured traditional patterns that, to native Pohnpeians, defined O'Connell's life; they made him wholly human. Yet upon traveling to New York, these markings singled him out as a freak. His tattoos frightened women and children, and ministers warned their congregations that viewing O'Connell's markings would cause the ink to transfer to the skin of their unborn children. In many ways, O'Connell's story exemplifies the unique history of the modern tattoo, which began in the Pacific and then spread throughout the world. No matter what form it has taken, the tattoo has always embodied social standing, aesthetics, ethics, culture, gender, and sexuality. Tattoos are personal and corporate, private and public. They mark the profane and the sacred, the extravagant and the essential, the playful and the political. From the Pacific islands to the world at large, tattoos are a symbolic and often provocative form of expression and communication.

Tattooing the World is the first book on tattoo literature and culture. Juniper Ellis traces the origins and significance of modern tattoo in the works of nineteenth- and twentieth-century artists, travelers, missionaries, scientists, and such writers as Herman Melville, Margaret Mead, Albert Wendt, and Sia Figiel. Traditional Pacific tattoo patterns are formed using an array of well-defined motifs. They place the individual in a particular community and often convey genealogy and ideas of the sacred. However, outside of the Pacific, those who wear and view tattoos determine their meaning and interpret their design differently. Reading indigenous historiography alongside Western travelogue and other writings, Ellis paints a surprising portrait of how culture has been etched both on the human form and on a body of literature.

By: Juniper Ellis
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 510g
ISBN: 9780231143684
ISBN 10: 0231143680
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 03 March 2008
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Juniper Ellis is an associate professor of English at Loyola College in Maryland, teaching Maori, Pacific Islands, and US literature. Her research for this book was made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Reviews for Tattooing the World: Pacific Designs in Print and Skin

This fascinating book traces the culture and literature surrounding the curious art that uses skin as a canvas. -- Billy Heller New York Post 2/17/08 [A] scholarly and beautifully written book. -- Cahir O'Doherty Irish Voice 3/26/08 Best New Book by a Local Author Baltimore City Paper 9/17/08 Richly layered and meticulously researched -- Vivienne Muller M/C Reviews 12/4/08 This brilliant, wide-ranging study deserves careful reading. Pacific Affairs Summer 09