Under the Skin: Tattoos, Scalps, and the Contested Language of Bodies in Early America

Under the Skin explores the role of cross-cultural body modification in seventeenth-century and eighteenth-century North America, revealing that tattooing and scalping were crucial to interactions between Natives and newcomers. These bodily practices were adopted and transformed by colonial powers, leading to cultural and political contestation. Ideas about the body, phenotype, and culture were increasingly articulated in concepts of race, but fascination with marked bodies remained.

Format: Hardback
Length: 176 pages
Publication date: 01 November 2022
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Under the Skin delves into the profound significance of cross-cultural body modification in seventeenth-century and eighteenth-century North America, unveiling the pivotal role of tattooing and scalping in the interactions between Natives and newcomers. These enduring and painful markings served as both symbols of alliance and signs of conflict, creating a intricate bodily archive of intercultural entanglement. Indigenous body modification practices, once adopted and transformed by colonial powers, became central to cultural and political contests in early America. While these bodily practices differed significantly—one representing a painful but voluntary act of accomplishment and affiliation, the other a violent assault on life and identity—they were interconnected by growing colonial perceptions that both were essential components of "Nativeness." Tracing the evolution of concepts of bodily integrity, personal and collective identities, and the origins of human difference, Under the Skin explores the multifaceted physical experiences and the contested metaphorical power of early American bodies. In the arenas of battlefields, diplomatic gatherings, and intellectual exchanges, Native Americans and Anglo-Americans encountered profound transformations in their physical appearances as a result of their interactions. Contested notions about human and societal difference translated into altered visages for many early Americans. Simultaneously, scars and symbols etched onto skin sparked a surge of storytelling as individuals engaged in spirited debates over the meanings behind such markings. Interestingly, individuals with culturally ambiguous or hybrid appearances spurred heightened efforts to assert and maintain a permanent bodily identity. By the late eighteenth century, ideas about the body had undergone a profound transformation, reflecting the complex interplay between cultural exchange, identity politics, and the enduring impact of bodily practices.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781512823165