Appropriation, Exoticism, and “Othering” seems to thread through these Caplan presentations, and connected the historical practices of tattooing with different time periods and geographical locations. The European fascination with “savage,” foreign cultures manifests in both the appropriation and condemnation of tattoos. Chapter 12, for example, discusses the role of tattooed people in the entertainment industry, and how foreigners were captured and displayed to both the elite and general public as a spectacle. PT Barnum and the traveling circus commodified people who did not fit into mainstream society, especially those with extremely tattooed bodies, and put them on display as erotic attractions. This especially affected women, and normalized revealing female bodies for money and entertainment. Interestingly, femininity was juxtaposed with tattooing; the art of performance, display, and the centrality of the body is something inherent in female existence, but tattoos and the “defacing” of the body was seen as something purely masculine. Several women, like Betty Broadbent, were able to negotiate the contradiction that their tattoos posed to their femininity through body language. By behaving “modestly” and “properly,” tattooed women were able to maintain at least part of their image as a socially acceptable woman.
Tattoos being a signifier of social ostracization, but being co-opted by mainstream society for either entertainment or status, is a large part of the history of tattoos. This is clearly seen in sailors, who were visually exposed to Japanese art and carried the imagery home on their skin where it was re-defined and re-purposed by the elite. Symbolic and linguistic aspects of “other” culture was adopted for a wealthy, white audience, and the people that it was appropriated from continued to be marginalized without credit. The field of criminology was heavily developed during the 19th century in Europe, with figures like Lombroso, Baer, and Leppman, and they criminals were determined as biologically different (and inferior). Because tattoos were strongly associated with the lower class, socially and economically, they were also associated with criminals. In 18th century Russia, peasants, vagrants, and criminals were exiled in Siberia and were branded as a form of punishment. Tattoos were used to solidify status and class among convicts as a form of control, while also creating a structured hierarchy. However, they became a source of pride rather than shame, and tattoos developed as a form of ritual that allowed “vagrants” to reclaim their identity (tattoos referred to as regalia).
The class presentations were really interesting and allowed for an engaging discussion about the larger themes in the Caplan readings. They built very clearly on what we’ve been talking about tattoos as a signifer of social standing and a tool used by the powerful to other certain members of society. I’m especially interesting in how they can function as a source of empowerment and creativity and also as a form of punishment.