Ebook: Customizing the body : the art and culture of tattooing

Product Description: Originally published in 1989, this ground-breaking ethnographic exploration of tattooing - and the art world surrounding it - covers the history, anthropology, and sociology of body modification practices; the occupational experience of the tattooist; the process and social consequences of becoming a tattooed person; and the prospects of "serious" tattooing becoming an accepted art form. Curiously, despite the greater prevalence of tattoos and body modification in today's society, there is still a stigma of deviance associated with people who get or ink tattoos.Retaining the core of the original book, this revised and expanded edition offers a new preface by the author and a new chapter focusing on the changes that have occurred in the tattoo world. A section on the new scholarly literature that has emerged, as well as the new modes of body modification that have come into vogue, are included along with a new gallery of photographs that show some splendid examples of contemporary tattoo art. A directory of artists' websites invites readers to discover the range of work being done around the world from "suits" (full body tattoos) to skulls.  Read more...
Preface to the revised and expanded edition --
Preface to the first edition --
1: Introduction: Body alteration, artistic production, and the social world of tattooing --
2: Becoming and being a tattooed person --
3: Tattooist: tattooing as a career and an occupation --
4: Tattoo relationship: risk and social control in the studio --
5: Conclusion: Tattooing and the social definition of art --
Epilogue 2008: Body modification then and now / Clinton R Sanders with D Angus Vail --
Methodological appendix --
Selected tattoo artist websites --
Notes --
References --
Index --
Photographs follow page 108.