This paper investigates the role of tattoo removal in postmodernity. Specifically, I suggest tattoo removal is a technology of self in which the tattooed person can attain absolution from a "sinful" tattoo. This paper explores the construction of the confessional act in two parts: the construction of the confessing subject and the construction of the medical clinic as the confessor's listener. Using the texts medical offices place on the internet to advertise their services, I investigate the text's interpellation of subjects desiring tattoo removal. I then examine the construction of the clinic's status in the confessional act. Websites and brochures on gang tattoo removal provide a dialogue in which the clinic negotiates and attains its powerful position in the confessional act. The paper concludes by investigating the implications of the tattoo remnant, the material effects of the technology of self, and the benefits of studying the body-skin in rhetoric.

Tatueringar har historiskt sett väckt fördomar hos människor i form av att tatuerade individer uppfattas besitta negativa egenskaper. Denna studie undersökte hur tatueringar på en förskollärare var relaterade till utomståendes uppfattning om dennes lämplighet att ta hand om barn. Vidare undersöktes även om likhetseffekten var en faktor i tatuerade och icke-tatuerade deltagares bedömning av yrkesutövaren. Genom en kvantitativ vinjettstudie fick 151 universitetsstudenter bedöma en förskollärares lämplighet utifrån 14 yrkesrelaterade egenskaper. Cirka hälften av deltagarna bedömde en icke-tatuerad förskollärare och den andra hälften bedömde en tatuerad förskollärare. Av deltagarna var 65 själva tatuerade och 86 icke-tatuerade. Resultatet presenterade inga signifikanta skillnader i bedömningen mellan den tatuerade förskollärarens och den icke-tatuerade förskollärarens lämplighet. Det fanns heller ingen skillnad i bedömningen utifrån om deltagaren själv hade tatueringar eller inte. Studiens resultat skiljer sig delvis från tidigare forskning och kan därav ligga till grund för vidare fördjupning i fördomar kring tatueringar inom olika yrken.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(地域研究) / 甲第19839号 / 地博第195号 / 新制||地||69(附属図書館) / 32875 / 京都大学大学院アジア・アフリカ地域研究研究科アフリカ地域研究専攻 / (主査)教授 木村 大治, 准教授 高田 明, 准教授 安岡 宏和 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Area Studies / Kyoto University / DGAM

Yes / Tattooing has long been practised in various societies all around the world and is becoming increasingly common and widespread in the West. Tattoo ink suspensions unquestionably contain pigments composed of nanoparticles, i.e., particles of sub-100 nm dimensions. It is widely acknowledged that nanoparticles have higher levels of chemical activity than their larger particle equivalents. However, assessment of the toxicity of tattoo inks has been the subject of little research and ink manufacturers are not obliged to disclose the exact composition of their products. This study examines tattoo ink particles in two fundamental skin components at the nanometre level. We use atomic force microscopy and light microscopy to examine cryosections of tattooed skin, exploring the collagen fibril networks in the dermis that contain ink nanoparticles. Further, we culture fibroblasts in diluted tattoo ink to explore both the immediate impact of ink pigment on cell viability and also to observe the interaction between particles and the cells.

This study explores processes of identity construction among women who have skin conditions and body modifications. Analyzing seven semi-structured qualitative interviews, the author examines how individuals affected by skin conditions employ body modification practices to organize their identities and promote feelings of agency across both personal and social domains. Engaging a Bakhtinian dialogic lens, the author argues that body modification may operate as a de-stigmatization strategy that supports individuals with skin conditions in cultivating a sense of self-determination and bodily sovereignty. Shaped by grounded theory, this study’s findings trace relationships between body modification and the development of agentic identities among women with skin conditions. Confronted by medical, physical, and social disenfranchisement, women affected by skin conditions may implement body modification practices to navigate treatment, incorporate their conditions, and negotiate their relationships. The author additionally suggests implications for the application of body modification practices as somatic therapeutic modalities.

No description available.

My master thesis aims to describe the community of tattooists, who started tattooing after 1989 or whom opened a tattoo studio after the Velvet Revolution. My thesis should help expand the history of tattooing in the Czech Republic and help understand why tattoos are a big phenomena now. One part of the thesis concentrates on the history of tattooing in different historical eras around the world. The next part focuses on how tattooing was forbidden during the communist era and people saw at as taboo. As relevant literature in this topic is missing, the primary sources used are oral historical interviews. The interviews focus on tattooing and the carrier of tattooists, but will mentioned also the private life of the recipients of tattoos. The main topic of the thesis is the emergence of tattoo studios in the Czech republic, its' importance to the people receiving tattoos and the impact on the personal and social life of the interviewees.

No description available.

In this thesis, I argue that the modern view on tattooing as a new trend and its former association with antisocial people is an old trope, in many ways constructed by the newspapers.  Tattooing is a practice with a long and multifaceted history. From Ötzi the iceman to the presumed tattoo-boom or tattoo-renaissance in the late twentieth century, it has waxed and waned in popularity but never fully got out of sight. The inhabitants of Sweden's capital city Stockholm are said to be the world's most tattooed people.  The Swedish word for tattoo: tatuering, was introduced in 1799 in an article about natives in the South Pacific. For about half a century, the newspapers mostly wrote about tattooing as a native practice in faraway countries. But, as far back as 1869, the Swedish newspapers started to report on a more western-centered tattoo interest. Approximately 30 years later, it was also reported as a trend attracting new target groups such as women and nobility in America and Britain. Since then, Swedish newspapers have repeatedly described tattooing alternatively as a new trend reaching out to new target groups, a practice on the brink of extinction, a danger to the health, or a stigmatizing mark. The tattooed person has been depicted as odd, self-destructive, an outcast, or incapable of making their own decisions. Authorities such as medics, scholars, social workers, and journalists have taken a right to interpret, discuss and judge the choices of other people. From researching Swedish Newspapers from 1799 to 1999, I conclude that the modern reports on tattooing as a trend, a danger, or a sign of deviance is a narrative with a long history. The view of tattooed people as odd, strange, and victims of self-destructive behavior is a discourse with an equally long tradition. Further, I argue that the tattooed person, when interviewed or depicted to this day, is constructed by old conceptions and stereotypes. The result is that people with an interest in tattooing internalizes prejudices as a self-image. This image is either promoted and self-encouraged, or the object of denial, and a wish to be seen as a whole person, not a stereotype or cliché.

No description available.