Permanent Displays of Social Distinction AVisual Ethnographic Analysis of the Facially Tattooed 'Tribe' of Minneapolis

Date of Award

2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Baram, Uzi

Keywords

Anthropology of the Body, Visual Anthropology, 'Modern Primitive'

Area of Concentration

Anthropology

Abstract

This project is an ethnographic investigation of a select group of facially tattooed individuals in the urban setting of Minneapolis. Each of the individuals introduced in this project display a common form of shocking stylistic behavior. These people decorate the most public parts of their body in a painful way, so as to permanently display difference. Such display of difference is, however, paradoxical. While such behavior is a 'loud' display of the hyper-individuality of the bearer, it is also a display of conformity to a larger 'tribe' to which these individuals belong. The thesis is an ethnography of a group of people in the contemporary United States, a visual representation of those individuals, and a presentation of photographs with which the reader/viewer can see the intensity with which these people are 'speaking' through their visual means of communication.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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