Tattoo

An Anthropology

Makiko Kuwuhara

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781000323634
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

In the 1830s, missionaries in French Polynesia sought to suppress the traditional art of tattooing, because they believed it to be a barbaric practice. More than 150 years later, tattooing is once again thriving in French Polynesia. This engrossing book documents the meaning of tattooing in contemporary French Polynesian society. As a permanent inscription, a tattoo makes a powerful statement about identity and culture. In this case, its resurgence is part of a vibrant cultural revival movement. Kuwahara examines the complex significance of the art, including its relationship to gender, youth culture, ethnicity and prison life. She also provides unique photographic evidence of the sophisticated techniques and varied forms that characterize French Polynesian tattooing today.Winner of The Japanese Society for Oceanic Studies Award 2005.

1
Discontinuity and Displacement: Place and History Of Tattooing

Formal characteristics and social meanings of tattooing have been developed in various ways in Polynesian islands, which have different processes of formation and transformation of society. Before starting to analyze the contemporary practice of tattooing in detail, in order to demonstrate the particular characteristics of transformation of Tahitian tattooing, in this chapter, I outline the contemporary history of tattooing, and then discuss the period from the time the islanders were visited by European explorers in the late eighteenth century to the time they stopped tattooing in the 1830s. As Tahitian tattoo history is not linear and continuous, but incoherent and discontinuous, I engage a more Foucauldian sense of history as genealogy. As this study focuses on the contemporary issues of tattooing, the genealogical approach, which re-examines historical events with regard to contemporary issues and interests, is more effective here than the conventional chronological linear approach. This study also highlights the politics of Tahitian tattoo history, which was related to social hierarchy in the pre- and early contact period, and ethnic and independence movements in the twentieth century. This history shows that the tattooing practiced before the eighteenth century was not the origin of contemporary practice, but is rather the reference that contemporary Tahitian tattooists apply.

Recovering Ma’ohi Skin - Renaissance of Contemporary Tattooing

French Polynesia is located 17,100 km from Paris, 6,200 km from Los Angeles, 8,800 km from Tokyo, 5,700 km from Sydney and 7,500 km from Santiago. Despite these distances, French Polynesia is not isolated in the international arena. Migration is common among French-speaking countries such as New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, and Réunion. Some students from French Polynesia study English or tourism in Fiji, Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia. Many Tahitians have been to Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States for vacations and shopping. France is on the other side of the planet, but there are large numbers of people who move between France and French Polynesia for holidays, education and work.

French Polynesia consists of 118 islands seventy-six of which are inhabited, scattered at a latitude of between 7 and 280 south and a longitude of between 131 and 1560 west. Since a network of domestic flights was developed, travel between most islands in different archipelagos has become easier, but many islands still do not have airports and frequent visits from cargo ship. There are five archipelagos: the Society Islands, the Tuamotu Archipelago, the Marquesas Islands, the Australs and the Gambier Islands. The islands and archipelagos have their own languages, customs and natural environments, so they have been culturally and ecologically distinguished one from another.

Tahiti, administrative capital and economic center of French Polynesia, is one of the islands of the Windward Island group, and with a population of 130,000, it is the most populated island in the whole territory (74 percent). This island is host to people from the archipelagos within French Polynesia and from other islands, French administrators, military personnel and tourists from all over the world. Tahiti is the place where the most dynamic process of transformation and multiplication of tattooing can be observed, thus it is the focus of this book. However, I attempt to locate Tahiti in relation to the other islands in French Polynesia and the rest of the world.

The major shift which led to the construction of contemporary Tahitian society and cultural scenes occurred in the mid nineteenth century. In 1843 Pomare IV agreed that Tahiti be a protectorate of France overseen by Admiral Dupetit-Thouars. The other islands in the Society Islands had been gradually included under the control of France. In 1945, the territories officially became ‘territoires d’outre-mer’ (overseas territories) and were named ‘Polynésie française’ in 1957.¹ In 1977, French Polynesia gained ‘l’autonomie de gestion’ (administrative autonomy). On 6 September 1984, ‘l’autonomie interne dans le cadre de la République française [internal autonomy under the French Republic]’ was applied to French Polynesia, and this was extended in 1996.

The ethnic composition of the population has altered with the political changes. Polynesians, indigenous people in French Polynesia, make up 66 percent of the population. Europeans – popa’a in Tahitian – constitute 12 percent of the population. Many of them are French people (farani) who are sent to French Polynesia for a few years as government officials, teachers or military personnel. Chinese people (tinito) make up 5 percent of the population. The first Chinese immigrants arrived in 1856 to work on sugar plantations. As they have settled down and established their community, Chinese people have succeeded in commerce in French Polynesia. Demi, mixed-race Polynesians, Europeans and Chinese, make up 17 percent of the population. They often have high levels of education and social status in Tahitian society.

There is an undeniable, almost one-and-a-half-century-long absence of tattooing in Tahitian history. I propose two reasons for this. First, Christianity was so powerful in Tahiti that tattooing was practiced very little and when it was, it was hidden. Second, assuming that tattooing was practiced underground by a few people, it is likely that the practice was rarely considered to be worth documenting in any ethnography because it was a personal, rather than social/institutional, practice.

Tattooing began on the streets and in prison in Tahiti in the 1970s. These tattoos were mostly Euro-American designs (in the so-called ‘old school style’ depicting, for instance, hearts, crosses or roses), and were considered by most people in Tahiti as a mark of criminals and prostitutes.

The revival of a ‘traditional’ style of tattooing occurred with the cultural revitalization movement in Tahiti in the 1970s and 1980s when modernization and urbanization in Tahiti took place with mass migration from the remote islands and from outside French Polynesia to Papeete due to the installation of nuclear testing facilities (CEP) and an international airport in Faa’a. Facing these social changes, many Tahitians came to recognize French colonialism and cultural differences between themselves and the French. They began urging for independence from France and asserting cultural identity to demarcate ma’ohi and their land from France. The cultural revitalization movement and the independence movement, thus, emerged from the rejection and contestation of French culture and the desire to regain an indigenous past. The customs and practices particular to their land, including language (te reo mao’hi), dance, music, art and crafts and sport were regarded as essential to being ma’ohi, and started being taught at school, at home and in the community.

Le Service de l’Artisanat Traditionnel was founded and has been encouraging artisans to establish associations and maintain their skills and knowledge of ‘traditional’ activities such as carving wood, stone, bone and mother-of-pearl, plaiting coconut fibre and pandanus, dancing, canoeing, fishing and hunting. Body decoration, including wearing pareu, ornamenting with shell or bone carved accessories and tattooing, has also been re-acknowledged in the formation of ethnic identity. Many tattooists now belong to the artisan associations and tattoo at the marché (market), fare artisanat (Artisan House) and at expositions. Besides tattooing, these tattooists have other skills such as carving, plaiting coconut fibre, dancing and playing pahu (drum).

Tattooing resumed as a part of the cultural revitalization movement in the early 1980s. Tavana Salmon, half-Tahitian and halfNorwegian, led Tahitians to the recognition of Polynesian dance and fire walking through a search for his cultural origins. Teve, a Marquesan from Nuku Hiva, became conscious of his Marquesan identity and wanted to be tattooed as Marquesan warriors had been. As there was no one who could tattoo the motifs observed in the early contact period with traditional tools in French Polynesia, Tavana and Teve went to Samoa and were tattooed by a Samoan tattooist. As Teve was a dancer of Ia Ora Na Tahiti and had been elected as Tane Tahiti (Mr. Tahiti), he often appeared in public. His ma’ohi identity attracted many Tahitians and led them to get tattooed. Between 1982 and 1985 Tavana invited Samoan tattooists to Heiva, an annual festival in Tahiti, and they tattooed many Tahitians in the traditional style. Tavana himself took traditional tools and tattooed many people. Apart from the negative image associated with criminals and prostitutes, tattooing representing ma’ohi identity has gradually become a major part of body decoration within a large population of Tahiti.

Tattooing with traditional tools was banned in 1986 for reasons of hygiene. A remodeled razor was instead invented as a new tool of tattooing and prevailed among young local Tahitians. Tattooing then became easier and more accessible to non-artisan Tahitians. Today many people, who do not consider themselves ‘tattooists,’ tattoo their own bodies or their brothers, cousins, friends or neighbors by hand or using remodeled razors on the streets or at home. They do not earn their living by tattooing, but do it mostly as a pastime. Normally they have another job and tattoo only on weekends when they are spending free time with their male friends. Many professional tattooists begin by tattooing their friends and relatives, for free or in exchange for bottles of Hinano or packets of Bison or for a very low price such as CPF5,000 for tattooing a whole arm.²

Many Tahitians acquire their first tattoos at school by handpricking one another. These tattoos are often simple designs such as three dots – ‘flic de mort’– a heart, their initials, or those of their boyfriend or girlfriend. Many of these tattooed people will later visit a professional tattooists to have these marks modified or covered. The most common reason given by young people for having the hand-pricked tattoos is that they have nothing else to do and are fiu (bored). They sometimes have alcohol or pakalolo (marijuana) before and during pricking. They are scolded by parents and may regret it themselves later because it is usually done badly and is not aesthetically appealing.

Professional tattooing has been developed in close relation with tourism. Since Faa’a International Airport opened in Tahiti in 1961, Tahiti has become a popular holiday destination, and tourism is one of the major industries for French Polynesia. Approximately 190,000 tourists visit French Polynesia per year. Consequently, artisans have been producing not only ‘traditional’ crafts and art, which represent and consolidate their ma’ohi identity, but those that appeal more to the tourist market. With the popularity of tattooing elsewhere in the world, tourists and French military personnel and gendarmes who spend their time in Tahiti get tattooed as a souvenir of their stay. Many tattooists have abandoned remodeled razors for reasons of hygiene as well as quality.

As tattooing has become popular, many tattooists have started working full-time in salons or on stands. These tattooists tend to charge more than those working from home, at clients’ homes or on the streets, as they need to meet the costs of rent for the salon or the stand and imported tools and materials – gloves, creams and equipment for sterilization. Increasing numbers of Tahitian and Marquesan tattooists participate in international tattoo conventions in Europe (the conventions in Berlin and Paris are popular) and the US. They also work at friends’ tattoo salons in Europe. As Tahitian tattooists travel abroad and observe tattooing in America and Europe, read American and French tattoo magazines, and receive visits from foreign tatt...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Discontinuity and Displacement: Place and History of Tattooing
• Chapter 2 Practice and Form
• Chapter 3 Marking Taure'are'a: Social Relationships and Tattooing
• Chapter 4 Exchanges in Taputapuatea: Localization and Globalization
• Chapter 5 Dancing and Tattooing at Festivals: Tahitian, Polynesian and Marquesan Identities
• Chapter 6 Inscribing the Past, Present and Future: In Nuutania Prison
• Conclusion
• Glossary
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index