Spiritual Tattoo or Bodies of Subversion

Spiritual Tattoo: A Cultural History of Tattooing, Piercing, Scarification, Branding, and Implants

Author: John A Rush

Say "body modifications" and most people think of tattoos and piercings. They associate these mainly with the urban primitives of the 1980s to today and with primitive tribes. In fact, as this fascinating book shows, body mods have been on the scene since ancient times, traceable as far back as 1.5 million years, and they also encompass sacrification, branding, and implants. Professor John Rush outlines the processes and procedures of these radical physical alterations, showing their function as rites of passage, group identifiers, and mechanisms of social control. He explores the use of pain for spiritual purposes, such as purging sin and guilt, and examines the phenomenon of accidental cuts and punctures as individual events with sometimes profound implications for group survival. Spiritual Tattoo finds a remarkable consistency in body modifications from prehistory to the present, suggesting the importance of the body as a sacred geography from both social and psychological points of view.

Table of Contents:

Ch. 1	Scarification and tattooing : a cultural history of pain	1
Ch. 2	The processes of body modification	77
Ch. 3	Spirituality	139
Ch. 4	Pain, suffering, and redemption	165
Ch. 5	Purging emotional pain and trauma	181
Ch. 6	The individual and society	223

Books about: Oggi e domani

Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo

Author: Margot Mifflin

The first history of women's tattoo art, Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo is a fascinating excursion into a subculture that dated back to the 19th century. It includes many never-before-seen photos of tattooed women from the last hundred years.