Tattoo : bodies, art, and exchange in the Pacific and the West

Bibliographic Information

Tattoo : bodies, art, and exchange in the Pacific and the West

edited by Nicholas Thomas, Anna Cole, and Bronwen Douglas

(Objects/histories)

Duke University Press, 2005

  • : cloth
  • : pbk

Available at  / 6 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-242) and index

Contents of Works

  • Introduction / Nicholas Thomas
  • Cureous figures : European voyagers and tatau/tattoo in Polynesia, 1595-1800 / Bronwen Douglas
  • Speckled bodies : Russian voyagers and nuku hivans / Elena Govor
  • Marks of transgression : the tattooing of Europeans in the Pacific Islands / Joanna White
  • Christian skins : tatau and the evangelization of the Society Islands and Samoa / Anne D'Alleva
  • Governing tattoo : reflections on a colonial trial / Anna Cole
  • The temptation of Brother Anthony : decolonization and the tattooing of Tony Fomison / Peter Brunt
  • Samoan tatau as global practice / Sean Mallon
  • Multiple skins : space, time, and tattooing in Tahiti / Makiko Kuwahara
  • Wearing moko : Maori facial marking in today's world / Linda Waimarie Nikora, Mohi Rua & Ngahuia Te Awekotuku
  • Beyond the modern primitive / Cyril Siorat
  • Epilogue : embodied exchanges and their limits / Nicholas Thomas

Description and Table of Contents

Description

The history of tattooing is shrouded in controversy. Citing the Polynesian derivation of the word "tattoo," many scholars and tattoo enthusiasts have believed that the modern practice of tattooing originated in the Pacific, and specifically in the contacts between Captain Cook's seamen and the Tahitians. Tattoo demonstrates that while the history of tattooing is far more complex than this, Pacific body arts have provided powerful stimuli to the West intermittently from the eighteenth century to the present day. The essays collected here document the extraordinary, intertwined histories of processes of cultural exchange and Pacific tattoo practices. Art historians, anthropologists, and scholars of Oceania provide a transcultural history of tattooing in and beyond the Pacific. The contributors examine the contexts in which Pacific tattoos were "discovered" by Europeans, track the history of the tattooing of Europeans visiting the region, and look at how Pacific tattooing was absorbed, revalued, and often suppressed by agents of European colonization. They consider how European art has incorporated tattooing, and they explore contemporary manifestations of Pacific tattoo art, paying particular attention to the different trajectories of Samoan, Tahitian, and Maori tattooing and to the meaning of present-day appropriations of tribal tattoos. New research has uncovered a fascinating visual archive of centuries-old tattoo images, and this richly illustrated volume includes a number of those-many published here for the first time-alongside images of contemporary tattooing in Polynesia and Europe. Tattoo offers a tantalizing glimpse into the plethora of stories and cross-cultural encounters that lie between the blood on a sailor's backside in the eighteenth century and the hammering of a Samoan tattoo tool in the twenty-first. Contributors. Peter Brunt, Anna Cole, Anne D'Alleva, Bronwen Douglas, Elena Govor, Makiko Kuwahara, Sean Mallon, Linda Waimarie Nikora, Mohi Rua, Cyril Siorat, Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, Nicholas Thomas, Joanna White

Table of Contents

Introduction / Nicholas Thomas 7 Part One: Histories and Encounters 1. "Cureous Figures": European Voyagers and Tatau/Tattoo in Polynesia, 1595-1800 / Bronwen Douglas 33 2. "Speckled Bodies": Russian Voyagers and Nuku Hivans, 1804 / Elena Govor 53 3. Marks of Transgression: The Tattooing of Europeans in the Pacific Islands / Joanna White 72 4. Christian Skins: Tatau and the Evangelization of the Society Islands and Samoa / Anne D'Alleva 90 5. Governing Tattoo: Reflections on a Colonial Trial / Anna Cole 109 Part Two: Contemporary Exchanges 6. The Temptation of Brother Anthony: Decolonization and the Tattooing of Tony Fomison / Peter Brunt 123 7. Samoan Tatau as Global Practice / Sean Mallon 145 8. Multiple Skins: Space, Time and Tattooing in Tahiti / Makiko Kuwahara 171 9. Wearing Moko: Maori Facial Marking in Today's World / Linda Waimarie Nikora, Mohi Rua and Ngahuia Te Awekotuku 191 10. Beyond Modern Primitivism / Cyril Siorat 205 Epilogue: Embodied Exchanges and their Limits / Nicholas Thomas 223 References 227 Select Bibliography 241 Notes on the Editors and Contributors 243 Acknowledgments 245 Photographic Acknowledgments 246 Index 247

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