THE GEOGRAPHIES OF THE BLACK HENNA MEME ORGANISM AND THE EPIDEMIC OF PARA-PHENYLENEDIAMINE SENSITIZATION: A QUALITATIVE HISTORY A dissertation submitted To Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Catherine Cartwright-Jones May, 2015 Copyright All rights reserved Except for previously published materials Dissertation written by Catherine Cartwright-Jones B.A. UCLA, 1972 M.A., Kent State University, 2006 Ph. D., Kent State University, 2015 Approved by ___________________________________________________ James Tyner, Full Professor, Ph.D., Geography, Doctoral Advisor ________________________________________________ Mandy Munro-Stasiuk, Chair and Full Professor, Ph.D., Geography ___________________________________________________ Scott Sheridan, Professor, Ph.D., Geography ___________________________________________________ Elizabeth Howard, Professor, Ph.D., , English Accepted by ___________________________________________________ Mandy Munro-Stasiuk, Chair, Ph.D., Department of Geography ___________________________________________________ James L. Blank, Ph.D., Interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface: Definitions and Style .....................................................................................................xxx I: Introduction to the Qualitative History of ‘Black Henna’ and the Epidemic of Para- phenylenediamine Sensitization…………………………………………………………...1 Two Case Studies of ‘Black Henna’ in the Third Space of Tourism: Camilla and Spider Girl Get ‘Black Henna’ in Zanzibar……………………………….………2 Camilla was in a Third Space……………………………………………………..3 Approaching the ‘Black Henna’ PPD Sensitization Epidemic through Cultural Geography ……………………………………………………………………….13 Approaching ‘Black Henna’ through Economic Geographies of Women………14 Approaching ‘Black Henna’ Through the Geographies of PPD……..………….16 Approaching ‘Black Henna’ through the Medical Geographies of Delayed Hypersensitivity Reactions in Tourism………………………..………..….…….19 Approaching ‘Black Henna’ through the Economic Geographies of Tourism…..23 Approaching the Geography of ‘Black Henna’ through Cultural Consumption...24 Approaching ‘Black Henna’ through the Geographies of Souvenirs …...………27 Approaching ‘Black Henna’ through the Geographies of the Informal Economies of Street Vendors……………………………………………...…………………30 iii Approaching ‘Black Henna’ through Children’s Geographies…………………..32 Positionality.……………………………………………………….…………….37 II: Cultural Geography, the Ideosphere, and Henna ...…………………………………..43 Cultural Geography and the Body…………………………………….…………43 Cultural Geography, Memes and the Ideosphere……………………………..….46 Locating Memes in the Online Ideosphere………………………………………50 Locating the ‘Black Henna’ Meme in the Online Ideosphere……………...……53 Cultural Geography, Memeplexes and ‘Black Henna’………………..…………54 The Memes of Body Modification and Globalization in the late Twentieth Century ……………………………………………….…………………………56 Henna ……………………………………………………………………………60 Henna Memes Replicate into the West………………………..…………………62 Henna Memes Online………………………………...………………………….63 Henna Memes in the Mediasphere……………………………………………….68 The ‘Black Henna’ Meme…………………………………….………………….73 The ‘Black Henna’ Meme Manifests as Product………………….……………..75 Black Henna before ‘Black Henna’ Temporary Tattoos………………………...80 iv III. Methodology …………………………………………………..…………………….84 Methodology Part 1: ‘Black Henna’ Memes as a Subject for a Qualitative Historical Research Project………………………………………………………84 Web Memetics……………………………………...……………………86 Memes and Cultural Geography…………………………………………87 Memes and Henna……………………………………………….………88 Globalization of the Henna Memes…………………………….…..……89 Approaching the World Wide Web as an Archive………………………89 The Challenges of Archival Research on the World Wide Web…...……91 Identifying Returns with Reasonable Certainty……………………….…92 Navigating Around FUDD, Trolls, Sockpuppets, and Internet Jackholes………………………………………………………………....97 Methodology Part 2: Methods of Web Memetics…………………….………….99 Security and Research……………………………………………………99 Managing Relevant Web Pages by Bookmarking and Tagging…………99 Searching the Archive, Constructing the Database…………….….……100 Varying the Search Terms…………………………………...…………101 v Varying the Search Products……………………………………………107 Quantitative Tags: When, Where, and What………………………...…109 Tags for Blended Quantitative and Quantitative Analysis: Who and How, Culture and Place…………………………………………………….…110 Authority, Authenticity, Formality, Informality, Gender and Age…..…111 Intention, Pronouncement and Audience………………………….……112 Tagging Qualitative Personal Narratives of Events………………….…112 Methodology Part 3: Definitions and Diagrams……………………………..…118 IV. A Qualitative History of the Epidemiologies of Meme Organisms: ….…………...122 The 20th Century Understandings of Henna in English Language Publications……………………………………………………………………. 122 Memes as Interactive, Competing, and Evolving Replicators in Network Environments…………………………………………………………...………123 IV. Materials Part 1: Memes in Periodical Publications………………………..128 The Evolution of Black Henna Meme Organisms in the English Language Periodical Publications Indexed by Lexis Nexis prior to the 1990s……128 Henna Meme Organisms in Travel and Local Sections…………..……132 vi Changes in Traditional ‘Black Henna’ Body Art Techniques with the Availability of PPD……………………………………………………..133 1996: The Rapid Evolution of Henna Meme Organisms Cooperate with Celebrity and Modern Primitive Culture Meme Organisms in the West…………………………………………………………………….136 Henna Meme Organisms Evolve in Mainstream Western Popular Culture and Cooperate with Tattoo Meme Organisms.…………………………140 The Black Henna Meme Organism Proliferates and Globalizes in Cooperation with World Beat Pop Music Meme Organisms………..…143 Reactions to ‘Black Henna’ and the Meme Organism of ‘You Have to be willing to Suffer for Beauty’……………………………….…………...145 Rapid Replication of the Black Henna Meme Organism Cooperating with Celebrity and MTV in 1998…………………………………….………146 The Meme Organism of Cultural Consumption Competes with the Meme Organisms of Cultural Ownership and Authenticity……………...……148 The Henna Meme Organism Becomes a Signifier in Cooperation with the Trendsetter Meme Organism………………………………….………..149 Marketing ‘Black Henna’ through the Summer of 1998 and Early Warning Memes………………………………………………….……….………150 vii 2000: The Black Henna Meme Organisms of Injuries and Warnings Emerge in English Language Periodical Media and Compete with the Black Henna Marketing Meme Organisms ………………..……………152 Henna Meme Organisms Stabilize in Travel, Lifestyle, and Local Sections of English Language Periodical News Publications……………………155 Late 2000: Henna Meme Organisms Give Rise to New Economic Activities and New Regulations ..…………………………………...…157 2001: The Black Henna Warning Meme Organism Evolves Differently in Different Network Environments………………………………………158 The Meme Organism of “The West is to Blame”………………………163 2002: More Black Henna Injury Meme Organisms from Medical Journal Articles Replicate into the News Media………………………..………164 Henna Meme Organisms Cooperating and Conflicting with Memes of Profit, Local Government Regulation, Culture, Warnings, and Free Will..…..….…………………………………………………………….165 2003: Henna Meme Organism Evolution Slows and Settles into the Networks of Informal Economies, Lifestyles, Multi-Culturalism, and Gains New Territory...……………………………………………….…168 Legislative and Regulatory Black Henna Meme Organisms Evolve in UK, Canada, and the USA………………………………………………...…169 viii A Seasonal Cycle of Henna Meme Organism Replication Evolves in English Language Periodical Publications………………………...……172 The Boundaries of The Black Henna Warning Meme Organism’s Replication in Resort Management and Travel Agencies………………174 PPD is awarded the prize of “Allergen of the Year………………….…178 2007: Black Henna Injury and Warning Meme Organisms Spawn Regulations, Law, Enforcement and Liability……………….…………180 2008: Governments and Physicians Call for Bans……………………..184 Evidence of the Black Henna Meme Organism Replication, Failure to Replicate, and Competition in Commentaries Following Two Articles……………………………………………………………….....187 2010 – 2013: the Black Henna Meme Organisms in the Network Environments of English Language Periodical News Publications….…189 Black Henna Meme Organisms in Local Network Environments in 2009 – 2013 in English Language Periodical News Publications in the USA…191 ‘Black Henna’ Injuries and the Meme Organisms of Cultural Conflict…………………………………………………………………193 IV. Materials Part 2: Vendors’ Memes……………………………….…….….204 ix The Evolution of Black Henna Meme Organisms in Online Vendor’s Statements………………………………………………………………204 Vendors’ Black Henna Merchandising Meme Organisms : Amunez and Tarawa…………………………………………………………………..205 Amunez ‘Black Henna’ and Black Henna Merchandising Meme Organisms Replicate into France through Tarawa, blackhenna.net and blackhenna.com …………………………………………………...……208 The Black Henna Merchandising Meme Organisms of Amazing Body Art Supply, 1999 – 2001……………………………………………………209 The Black Henna Merchandising Meme Organism of Blackhennakits.com 2001 – 2013……………………………………………………..………211 The Black Henna Merchandising Meme Organisms of ‘Little Miss Henna’………………………………………………………….……….212 Over-the-Counter Sources of PPD Commonly Used to Make ‘Black Henna’ Temporary Tattoos…………………………………….……….214 Production of ‘Black Henna’ in India and Pakistan Marketed in the West…………………………………………………………………….215 IV. Materials Part 3: Online Discussion Memes………....……………….……218