Citation

Sarnecki JH. Anthropol. Conscious. 2001; 12(2): 35-42.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1525/ac.2001.12.2.35

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines how tattoos may function as a way to deal with personal trauma. First, I examine a recent theory of how personal trauma cannot be fully experienced; thus, it calls for a return to the event in order to incorporate it into the psyche. Second, I look at how that return, often achieved symbolically, might include the process of acquiring a tattoo. Finally, I turn to various examples, taken from memoirs, film, and an interview, of trauma that has been expressed through tattooed images that turn bodies into memory-laden texts.