Wrapping in images : tattooing in Polynesia
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Wrapping in images : tattooing in Polynesia
（Oxford studies in social and cultural anthropology, . Cultural forms）
Clarendon Press , Oxford University Press, 1996, c1993
- : pbk
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Note
Some copies have different publication year: c1993
Includes bibliographical references (p. [333]-342) and index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
ISBN 9780198278696
Description
In traditional Polynesian societies, tattooing has played a key role in the social construction of the individual. This is the first study to provide a comparative analysis of tattooing in its original setting--based on a comprehensive survey of both written and oral sources. Drawing on modern social theory, psychoanalysis, and anthropological studies, Gell demonstrates the role of tattooing in the complex array of controlling sacredness and protecting the self.
Table of Contents
- Theoretical introduction
- Western Polynesia and Fiji
- the society of islands
- The Marquesas
- Mangareva
- outer Eastern Polynesia
- the epidemiology of Polynesian tattooing - concluding comments.
- Volume
-
: pbk ISBN 9780198280903
Description
Wrapping in Images is the first comparative analysis of tattooing in Polynesia in its original setting, based on a comprehensive survey of both written and visual documentary sources.
Drawing on modern social theory, psychoanalysis, and contemporary anthropology, Alfred Gell shows how tattooing formed part of a complex array of symbolic techniques for controlling sacredness and protecting the self. He uses this framework to examine the iconographic meaning of tattoo motifs, the rich corpus of mythology surrounding tattooing in some Polynesian societies, and the complex rituals associated with the tattoing operation. he also demonstrates how not all ancient Polynesian
societies placed an equal emphasis on tattooing, or exploited the basic metaphors in the same way. Gell's wide-ranging, comparative political analysis shows consistent correlations between forms of political structure and different tattooing institutions, offering a new perspective on Polynesian comparative
sociology.
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