ILLUSTRATED AMERICA: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF TATTOOS IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN CULTURE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY AUGUST 2014 By Sung P. Kang Dissertation Committee: Herbert Ziegler, Chairperson Margot Henriksen Marcus Daniel Njoroge Njoroge Kathryn Hoffmann Keywords: tattoos, skin art, sports, cultural studies, ethnic studies, gender studies ©Copyright 2014 by Sung P. Kang ii Acknowledgements This dissertation would not be possible without the support and assistance of many of the History Department faculty and staff from the University of Hawaii, colleagues from Hawaii Pacific University, friends, and family. I am very thankful to Njoroge Njoroge in supplying constant debates on American sports and issues facing black athletes, and furthering my understanding of Marxism and black America. To Kathryn Hoffmann, who was a continuous “springboard” for many of my theories and issues surrounding the body. I also want to thank Marcus Daniel, who constantly challenged my perspective on the relationship between politics and race. To Herbert Ziegler who was instrumental to the entire doctoral process despite his own ailments. Without him none of this would have been possible. To Margot (Mimi) Henriksen, my chairperson, who despite her own difficulties gave me continual assistance, guidance, and friendship that sustained me to this stage in my academic career. Her confidence in me was integral, as it fed my determination not to disappoint her. To my chiropractor, Dr. Eric Shimane, who made me physically functional so I could continue with the grueling doctoral process. To Kats and Pat Kiwada, who have put up with my antics and temper throughout the years while maintaining the type of support that I have been lacking given my parents’ absence in my life. They gave me constant encouragement and advice to finish my studies. To my mother who has watched over me in life and death, making sure that I have people who care for me and look out for my best interests. I want especially to thank my wife, Kris, who has really been tolerant of my mood swings during the most difficult four years of my life. She has constantly provided unconditional love that has sustained me to this point. Finally, to the most cherished member of the iii Kiwada family, Chibi, who passed away a couple years ago—he will always be remembered. iv Abstract This dissertation examines the evolving democratization of tattooing and the shifting significance of tattoos in an analysis from the 1950s to the current era. Unlike previous scholarship, this study also links the democratization of tattoos to the continuous struggle over the body against state institutions—not just limiting it to the 1960s counter- culture. Often absent in other studies concerning the popularization and eventual commodification of tattoos is the “hip-hop element”; I argue that marking the skin was a logical extension of drawing attention to an “invisible generation” experiencing economic neglect and the impact from the “War on Drugs,” “War on Gangs,” and “War on Youths” in the 1980s. Rapper Tupac Shakur contributed to the growth and contraction of marking the body, and this is symptomatic of the discursive dialectic between the tolerance for and the backlash against civil rights in recent America history. The context of my investigation is specifically American, as I argue that decades of tattooing practices have rendered tattoos peculiarly evocative signifiers of diverse American identities. After the 1950s, marking the skin became part of the discourse over civil liberties regarding the body. My study centers on women, gays and lesbians, blacks, the military, and entertainers or professional athletes. Individuals within these groups have been among the most ardent practitioners of tattooing and among the most visible recipients of tattoos; not coincidentally, these groups have also been among the most marginalized or celebrated of Americans, often voluntarily distancing themselves from the larger American society through their commercialized tattoos and their defiantly political uses of their bodies. The primary thrust of this discussion is to identify how various groups v have used tattooing to assert their self-determination or civic identities publicly, and to define themselves by writing on their bodies. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgments…………………………………………….…..……………………..iii Abstract……………………………………………...………...…….…………………...v List of Figures………………………………………………………...………………...viii Introduction: The Semiotics of Tattooing………………………………………………..1 Chapter 1: “Cooked and Raw": Adornment, Magic, Spirituality, and Punishment through Marking the Skin………………………………………………….….....17 Chapter 2: "Primitive and Freakery": The Rise and Decline of Tattooing from the 1800s to the 1960s...………………………………………………………………….................53 Chapter 3: "Down on Me": The Counter-Cultural Body, Deviancy, and Tattoo as Art Form from the late 1950s to the early 1970s………………………..…………...95 Chapter 4: "Illustrated Community": The Creation of the Modern Tattoo Community from the late 1960s to the 1990s……………………………………………….128 Chapter 5: “Tattoo Vision”: The Division, Objectification, and Democratization of Tattooing from the 1980s to the Present……………………………….……….169 Chapter 6: “Thug Life”: The Hip-Hop Ethos and Criminalization of the Black Tattooed Professional from 2001 to the Present.................................................................196 Chapter 7: A Conservative Counter-Culture and the Backlash Against Tattooed Americans………………………………………………………………………238 Conclusion: “Tattooed Nation”: The Democratization and Self-Determination of Indelible Marks………………….…………………………………….………..260 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………270 Appendix and Figures…………………………………………………………………..288 vii List of Figures Figure Page 1.01 Pazyryk tattoos with mythical creatures ………………………………….289 1.02 Pazyryk tattoos showing the natural order of the world …………..….......289 1.03 Timucuan Chief Outina and his elite guards wearing gold jewelry around their neck, which represented the sun………………………….289 1.04 Woodland ranger who was tattooed with a serpent on his back………….290 1.05 Yoruba Osilumi was a mark on the face signifying sorrow for the loss of a close friend or relative………………………………………..290 1.06 Abaji marks on a Tiv woman. Handsome calves are emphasized by scars…………………………………………………………………291 1.07 Stages of Hleeta scarification……………………………………………..291 1.08 Diagram of application of Hleeta in the back of Ga’anda women……….292 1.09 Timucuan Chief Holata Outina with his elite escort. Outlina and his warriors were extensively marked on the skin…………………………292 1.10 Samoan design for males encompassing front and back of the thigh…………………………………………………………………….293 1.11 Warrior Te Phei Kup with moko………………………………………….293 1.12 A moko signature on a land grant signed by Tuawahiki, a chief of the Otago…………………………………………………………….294 1.13 Scarified statue of Baule and unblemished perfection of Heracles………………………………………………………………...294 1.14 Examples of tattoo designs for Christian Pilgrims………………………..295 1.15 Design of Saint George and the Dragon, collection of Jacob Razzouk………………………………………………………………...295 1.16 Tattoo designs depicting The Crucifixion and the Resurrection………….295 2.01 Nora Hildebrant standing in a classical pose to offset her decivilizing marks……………………………………………………...296 2.02 Male and female Picts, England’s savage ancestor, extensively tattooed……………………………………………………………........296 2.03 and 2.04 Secota maidens (left) and matrons (right) with geometric designs on the arms and legs. The matrons were more extensively tattooed to show higher status over maidens………….......297 2.05 Olive Oatman with her “decivilizing” marks on her chin……………......297 2.06 Part of the process of enslavement which involved branding the slave………………………………………………………………..298 2.07 A popular design worn by white and black mariners…………………….298 2.08 Omai, a Tahitian who was associated with the “noble savage” because of the tattoos on his hand……………………………………..299 2.09 Jean-Baptiste Cabri, who has “gone native,” was extensively marked and had a Marquesan wife…………………………………….299 2.10 Examples of tattoos depicted in Seaman’s Protection Certificate application. Clerks often sketched the tattoos as well as described them……………………………………………………………………300 viii 2.11 Mermaids, roosters, pigs, or anchors were tattooed on the bodies of many seafarers during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries………………………………………………………………..300 2.12 Tattoo of “Adam and Eve and the Tree of Life” taken from an early nineteenth century preserved skin specimen…………………….301 2.13 Seafarers or members of the military often got tattooed in foreign ports. In this case, an officer getting tattooed in Japan………..301 2.14 An illustrated guide book for P.T Barnum’s first museum, emphasizing “reference” and “instruction”………………………........302 2.15 A pamphlet promoting P.T Barnum’s show of “natural history”………...302 2.16 A pamphlet giving a description of the circus “freaks”…………………..303 2.17 An illustration of Captain Constentenus submission and tattooing by a woman. Reversing the traditional active and passive gender roles in the nineteenth century……………………………........303 2.18 An advertisement for Captain Constenteneus, “The Tattooed Greek Prince”………………………………………….304 2.19 An advertisement for Irene “La Belle” Woodard………………………...304 2.20 Tattooed circus attraction, Jean Furella Carson, who bared