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The Tattoo Project
Commemorative Tattoos, Visual Culture, and the Digital Archive
Edited by Deborah Davidson
January 2017
Print ISBN: 9781551309453
Overview
Unique in scope and content, this methods-based text draws on the process of creating a digital archive of commemorative tattoos to examine the production and mobilization of knowledge across communities, disciplines, and space. Deborah Davidson’s multidisciplinary collection addresses the cultural history of tattooing and the social meanings and implications of commemorative tattoos—tattoos that hold significant value for their bearer.
A practical resource for those undertaking archival research or collecting and sharing information across disciplines, this text acts as a template for building connections between academic and non-academic communities. Bridging the gap between theory and practice, The Tattoo Project offers critical insights and tools for courses focused on research methodologies and digital humanities, and provides innovative content for those studying the body, visual culture, and commemoration.
Features
- highlights several case studies and personal narratives to contextualize theoretical and methodological approaches
- includes photographs of archival participants
- features accompanying poetry by award-winning poet Priscila Uppal
- The Tattoo Project digital archive provides additional supplementary materials including photos, videos, and narratives
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Chapter One: Introducing The Tattoo Project
Deborah Davidson
SECTION I. HISTORY, CULTURE, AND APPROACH: AN OVERVIEW
Chapter Two: Memories on the Skin: A Brief Cultural History of Tattooing
Margo DeMello
Chapter Three: Commemorative Tattoos as Visual-Material Media
Sara Martel
Chapter Four: Between the Inside and the Outside: Commemorative Tattoos and the Externalization of Loss or Trauma
Andreas Kitzmann
Chapter Five: Creative Methodologies
Gayle Letherby and Deborah Davidson
Chapter Six: Tattooing as Auto/Biographical Method and Practice
Gayle Letherby and Deborah Davidson
Chapter Seven: Visual Research Methods: Memorial Tattoos as Memory-Realization
Deborah Davidson and Angelina Duhig
Chapter Eight: Inscribing Memory as a Social Process: The Tattoo Artist–Client Relationship
Arthur McLuhan, with Wayne Galbraith
SECTION II. WRITTEN IN THE FLESH
Poem. Not a Cliché, by Priscila Uppal
Photos
Two Memories, by Mary Khan
SECTION III. CASE STUDIES AND PERSONAL NARRATIVES
Chapter Nine: “Physical Words”: Scars, Tattoos, and Embodied Mourning
Kay Inckle
Chapter Ten: Enshrined in Flesh: Tattoos and Contemporary Women’s Spirituality
Gina Snooks
Chapter Eleven: Memorial Tattoos as Connection
Andrea Warnick and Lysa Toye
Chapter Twelve: “Ingulule Ayidli Ngamabala”: A Reflection on the Spotted Soloist
Siphiwe Ignatius Dube
Chapter Thirteen: I Am
Stephanie Pangowish
Chapter Fourteen: Tattoo Memoir
Dave Mazierski
Chapter Fifteen: Why I Get Tattoos: A Personal Perspective on Tattoos and Commemoration
Craig Roxborough
SECTION IV. THE TATTOO PROJECT: A COMMUNITY UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Chapter Sixteen: What Is an Archive? Creators, Functions, and Value in Archival Practice
Lisa Darms
Chapter Seventeen: Public Sociology and Digital Culture
Ariane Hanemaayer and Christopher J. Schneider
Chapter Eighteen: Technology Design to Support Commemorative Tattoo Practice
Melanie Baljko
Chapter Nineteen: The Coming Together of a Community of Practice: Commemorative Tattoos as Visual Culture for Community Engagement and Identity Formation
Anabel Quan-Haase
Chapter Twenty: Knowledge Mobilization: Engaging Beyond the Academy Walls
Krista Jensen
Reflection
Deborah Davidson
Author Biographies
Index
