The Sense and Sensation of Body Modification Practice

The Sense and Sensation of Body Modification Practice N atasha Stilwell Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology Goldsmiths College University of London 2009 Declaration: The work presented in this thesis is entirely my own. 2 Abstract This thesis explores the ways in which body modification is experienced as sensate and embodied. The term body modification refers to a group of practices that institute some transformation at the level of the body. Techniques include tattooing, body piercing, branding and scarification; also implanting or beading, the insertion of objects under the skin, and forms of minor 'surgery'. The thesis seeks to extend conceptions and analyses of the modified body and to develop creative ways of thinking about and communicating the experiences of body modification practice. It does so by way of an empirical focus on sensory processes of body modification, which yields detailed insight into the texture of modification experiences as they are lived. Through an in-depth ethnography that included accompanying individuals as they were modified, and interviews with body modification practitioners and participants, the thesis augments and expands existing literature on body modification and sense and sensation. It does this by focusing, in particular, on the sensate-led working practices of body modification practitioners, pain (and especially the implications of 'elected' pain), sensation, sound and the tactility of visuality (the haptic) as experienced by participants. Highlighting these important areas of body modification experience not only produces a sensate epistemology of body modification practice, but also makes significant contributions to debates on methodology, ethics and craft. This thesis explores: the need for creative and embodied research methods, particularly where the focus is 'the body'; how an 'immanent ethics' is created, through sensate experience, by body modification practitioners; and the implications of understanding custom body modification as a practiced and embodied craft activity. Tuning-into the experiences of the modified body not only expands what body modification is understood to 'be' but makes an important contribution towards the development of sociology as an embodied practice. 3 LIST OF TABLES Practices Experienced by Research Participants 84 Studios 86 Participants in Ethnography (Longer Research Engagements) 86 Participation in Observation (Shorter Research Engagements) 87 Participants in Interviews Only 87 4 CONTENTS Abstract 3 List of Tables 4 Introduction 7 1. Body Modification Literature Review 12 Introduction From Outlaw to Celebrity: The Rise of the Modified Body Individualism and Difference Biographical Narrative Consumerism, Class and Body Modification Practice Conclusion 2. Sense and Sensation Literature Review 52 Introduction Historical Overview of Literature The Mind/Body Split and the Senses Vision and Touch Smell Sensing the Other Conclusion 3. Methodology 81 Introduction Body Modification as Object The Studios and Research Participants Being at Star. Creating Ethnography Reflexivity Intimacy and Embodied Practice The Research as Insider/Outsider Over Observation, Sensationalism and Objectification Becoming a Subject Conclusion 5 4. Sensate Reflexivity: The Creation of the Ethical Practitioner 112 Introduction Adopting a Reflexive Practice Accessing Practices: The Experienced Body Saying 'No' and Putting Things Right The Custom Studio: Producing Quality Conclusion 5. Electing Pain and Choosing Sensation 146 Introduction Elective Sensation Making Body Knowledge Through Pain Constructing Pain Thresholds Thinking Into Pain Conclusion 6. Exploring the Soundscape of Body Modification Practice 179 Introduction The Studio as Sonic Venn Sonic Venns and Music Experiments in Sound: From Quiet to Loud Conclusion 7. The Gaze and the Haptic: Producing Visual Process 209 Introduction The Gaze Haptic Visuality Haptic Visuality and Modified Bodies Haptic Experiments Conclusion 8. Conclusion 246 Appendix 1: Excerpt from Field Diary 257 Appendix 2: Excerpt from Interview Transmpt: Jane 262 References 283 6 Introduction y' know when you go into a studio, and you smell that watered down sort of disinfectant, Dettol, that makes me go "Ooh yeah! Ooh yeah! I could have one done" [a tattoo] ... The sort of watered down Dettol that you get, makes me more excited I think than the sound of the tattoo gun. The tattoo gun just reminds me of the dentist, it's the smell, it's the smell that really gets me. (Henry, bocfy modification practitioner) In this thesis I explore some of the sights, sounds and sensations of body modification practice and experience. Accounts such as Henry's above are suggestive not only of what it is to experience the body modification studio in sensorial terms but also how this impacts on the participant. In this instance the smell of disinfectant acts both as a sensate evocation of what it is to be tattooed and a lure for repeating the tattoo experience. Throughout this thesis I demonstrate what it is to be modified 'in the moment' of body modification practice, as well as what it is to live with body modifications on a day-to-day basis. I document some of the anxiety, excitement, difficulty and pleasure as well as some of the unremarkable qualities of being modified. This thesis was created in part in the body modification and tattoo studio, at the tattoo convention, while observing participants getting modifications and by talking to modified participants about what it is to experience body modification practice. My research is an excursion into body modification experience as an active practice, presenting pictures, soundscapes, and accounts that resonate. I have focused on areas of body modification experience that that have been largely neglected in body modification analyses: pain/sensation, sound and tactile/visual (haptic) experiences. Through valuing body modification experience, the sensorial and corporeal can be understood not simply as an adjunct to analyses of body modification, but rather to be at the heart of body modification practice. 7 The thesis is organised as follows: in the fIrst chapter, Botfy Modification Literature Review, I focus on the key analytic themes that have emerged in both academic and 'popular' literature on body modifIcation practice: individualism and difference, biographical narrative and class and consumerism. While such ways of approaching and conceptualising body modifIcation practice have been valuable in positioning body modifIcation as a social practice, I suggest that there is room for other approaches to body modifIcation analysis. My focus on the sensate and embodied character of body modifIcation practice and experience both augments and expands this body of literature and in so doing, makes a signifIcant contribution to sociological understandings of body modifIcation practice. Chapter Two provides an overvIew of the fIeld of sensory studies. In Sense and Sensation Literature Review I make links between my own research and the ways in which those working on the senses have broadened conceptions and analysis of the social world. This chapter explores areas of tension in the fIeld and identifIes some of the ways in which sensory studies could be developed including re-orientating the ways in which the senses have been modelled in hierarchical terms (wherein for example vision is understood to be the 'most' important of the senses and olfaction the 'least'). I seek to neither reproduce nor invert hierarchies of the senses. This project draws on the strengths of sense and sensation literature in order to launch an epistemology of body modifIcation practices as embodied and sensory. Following my two literature reviews in Chapter Three, Methodology, I introduce the ways in which I researched body modifIcation practice. I discuss my on-site ethnography at a body modifIcation studio, Star my observation of body modifIcation procedures: and the interviews that I conducted with ten body modifIcation participants and practitioners. I provide a theoretical context for my methodological choices and debate issues such as access, the development of research relationships, sensitivity within the research setting and the insider/outsider status of myself as researcher. I also reflect on the embodied, intimate and reflexive nature of my research practice. The issues of sensationalism, over-observation and objectifIcation were of particular concern to me, as I illustrate both in the practical 'doing' of the research and in the writing-up stage. Chapter Four is my fIrst data chapter. In Sensate Reflexivity: The Creation if the Ethical Practitioner I highlight the role and working practices of the body modifIcation 8 practitioner as shaped by and grounded in their bodily expenence of modification practice. Through an analysis of the practitioners at Star I identify that studio workers use their own bodies to create a sensate and reflexive collection of working practices that are designed to 'protect' clients and practitioners alike. These ways of working form what I have termed 'immanent ethics', conventions that arise from embodied practice rather than being 'enforced' from outside the studio. By acting as gatekeepers and decision makers and by assuming 'more' responsibility than might be expected of them, practitioners ensure clients receive what they understand to be 'appropriate' body modification practices. This chapter also examines the 'custom' character of body modification practice as producing

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