Performativity and Performance: Representing the Tattooed Body. Mindy Elaine Fenske Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 2001 Performativity and Performance: Representing the Tattooed Body. Mindy Elaine Fenske Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Fenske, Mindy Elaine, "Performativity and Performance: Representing the Tattooed Body." (2001). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 402. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/402 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. 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Higher quality 6’ x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PERFORMATTVTTY AND PERFORMANCE: REPRESENTING THE TATTOOED BODY A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements tor the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Speech Communication by Mindy Fenske B.A., Moorhead State University, 1991 M.A., Arizona State University, 199S December 2001 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number 3042618 Copyright 2001 by Fenske, Mindy Elaine Ail rights reserved. UMI* UMI Microform 3042618 Copyright 2002 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. OCopyrigfat 2001 Mindy Elaine Fenske All rights reserved ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my parents for instilling me with tbe work ethic necessary for completing this project and for constantly insisting that I should rigorously pursue my goals, whatever they may be. I would also like to acknowledge the community of scholars and teachers in the Department of Speech Communication at LSU. This collection of graduate students and faculty provided me with constant encouragement and challenged me with their rigorous scholarship and insightful critique and commentary. In particular, I want to recognize the intellectual grace of Ruth Laurion Bowman, the critical creativity of Trish Suchy, and the irreplaceable daily insights of fellow student and Chimes compadre, Shaun Treat. On a more personal note, I could not have accomplished this task without the many members o f my Baton Rouge family. My heartfelt thanks and love to them all, but most dearly to Gretchen Stein, Danielle Sears, Gary Reeves, and Lisa Flanagan. To advisor and friend, Michael Bowman, I express no small amount of amazement at his ability to put up with my psychosis. He is always prepared to deliver necessary words of wisdom seasoned with healthy pinches of wit, and occasional dashes of sorely needed reality. Without belaboring the point, I merely want to say, with as much earnest sincerity as I can muster, thank you Michael. Finally, thank you to my best friend and life-long partner, Jason Munsell, for his continuing faith, encouragement, and support. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS..............................................................................................iii ABSTRACT............................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................... 1 Statement of Purpose ..........................................................................2 Representing the Tattooed Body ..................................................... 3 From Deviance to Distinction........................................................... 18 M ethod ............................................................................................. 25 Significance.......................................................................................31 Limitations........................................................................................36 Issues and Organization.................................................................... 37 N otes................................................................................................45 2 TATTOO VOODOO AND THE SIDESHOW..................................... 48 Status and the Tattooed Body ....................................................... 55 Threshold Space and the Context of Display .................................... 71 Conclusion........................................................................................88 N otes................................................................................................ 91 3 ROSIE THE RIVETER, THE MARLBORO MAN, AND UMJAMMER LAMMY...............................................................94 Tampax and Rosie the Riveter ......................................................... 100 The Marlboro Man .......................................................................... I l l UmJammer Lammy....................................................................... 123 Conclusion.......................................................................................132 N otes............................................................................................... 136 4 MODERN PRIMITIVES..................................................................... 139 Imagined Histories...........................................................................143 Revising the Primitive ................................................................... 159 Disidentification of the Working-Class Body .................................. 173 Conclusion.......................................................................................179 N otes............................................................................................... 184 5 CONCLUSION .................................................................................. 186 Performativity Revisited ................................................................ 186 Tattoo Theory and Surrogation........................................................189 Representing and Reconstructing the Body ..................................... 193 The Tattooed Body as Bricoleur ..................................................... 202 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. N otes.............................................................................................. .205 WORKS CITED.......................................................................................................... 207 V ITA ........................................................................................................................... 219 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT In this study I examine visual representations of tattooed bodies in three arenas o f cultural production: tattoo conventions, advertising, and neo-tribal books. Through the methodological lens of genealogies of performance, I analyze these texts’ construction of the tattooed body as classed, gendered, and exotic. I argue that contemporary representations of the tattooed body resist and reproduce discursive power regimes by surrogating prior cultural performances and representations of performance. I contend that contemporary visual representations of the tattooed body succeed in resisting discursive