W3: You Tatt Too?

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobjagendorf/7672926246)

Tattoo is a trend of global postmodernism as it reintroduces traditional elements and practices from subdominant cultures into that of the West – both oppositional subcultures and the mainstream. Its global consumption is a product of the ethnographic changes and cultural flows of globalisation. Its adoption in the ‘global mainstream’ hasn’t so much influenced my view of any particular culture, but rather shined a light on the influence of smaller cultural practices in our globalising world.

 

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It is an interesting example of globalisation. Instead of the obvious American Imperialism we typically associate with globalisation, the custom is from subdominant societies and has been bastardised, in a sense, by the West. We have adopted the custom, subverted and interpreted its traditional meanings and made it our own for our own purposes. From this perspective, it can easily be seen how globalisation creates a homogenous world where the dominant West consumes the smaller cultures. It is ironic then that a proportion of those with tattoos in the West "see themselves rejecting occupation-based status hierarchies of the dominant occupational system" as Langman & Cangemi (2003: 150) suggest.

Within Western society, tattoos have been used as a means of identifying with a group or as an individual, starting with, but not limited to, groups oppositional to the dominant ideology. Prisons, gangs, and fringe groups such as hardcore, punk and rock adorned their bodies with tattoos long before it was accepted into mainstream culture. The increasing prevalence of tattoo in mainstream media and its commercialisation to sell products has “elevate[d] tattoo’s cultural status” in the West (Kosut, 2006) while also exhausting its “potential to provoke”. Due to globalisation, tattoo “...is used to sell a product and is simultaneously a product to be consumed” (ibid, 2006: 1037).

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The globalisation of tattoo has thus changed my understanding of the practice. While the concept itself is traditionally non-Wester, I see tattoos - like most art - as a form of self-expression; a way to further individualise ourselves in an increasingly modern world of sameness. However, my views dramatically change if, for example, a person not of Maori decent got a traditional Maori tattoo. In my opinion, that's slightly pretentious and more than slightly disrespectful. Chinese and Japanese symbols and designs - also popular among the West - is different but I don't understand why myself. Maybe because the East has been represented more in the media I consume. Logically, it shouldn't be any different. I understand the hypocrisy and contradiction in my acceptance of the concept but placing conditions on the content. 

That's my weird and worldly perspective on tattoo.

References:
Kosut, M 2006, ‘An Ironic Fad: The Commodification and Consumption of Tattoos’, Journal of Popular Culture, Vol 39, No Issue 6, p1035-1048

Langman, L & Cangemi, K 2003, 'Globalisation and the Liminal: Transgression, Identity and the Urban Primitive', pp 141-176