The Importance Of Tattoos Means To People

Tattoos are the mark of the colonized other:

The difference between the colonizer and the colonized in the texture of the skin. Marc Blanchard,

What does body tattoo means to people in the Jamaican society? The diaspora of the Jamaican populace views on tattoos are similar to religion because people will always have their own opinions. You might lose someone special, and you put on a tattoo to remember them, so they are sentimental as well . Therefore, everyone who has a tattoo has a distinctive meaning for it. They all represent something. Research that has been done on the meaning and significance of body tattooing highlighted both negatives and positives of how people perceive tattoo. Among the most common ones identified are cultural: which includes rituals, the work culture and the western lifestyle. The inter and intra-personal meaning include the individual meaning a tattoo may

In a culture in which there are few rituals or rites of passage outside religion, the tattoo can serve (as it did for indigenous people who practiced tattooing) as a physical mark of a life event.” These life events are interpreted as significant by the bearer. He also explained that body tattooing can be used as symbols to recognize an individual as part of a group. To him a group can be as wide as “American to the very specific such as a family or partner’s name.”

Having said the above, this literature review has taken the position to support the information suggested by researchers that body tattooing is an intentional act, therefore tattoos have different meanings. These meanings can either be personal or cultural. The views expressed by these researchers are very much applicable to the Jamaican society. These studies have helped to broaden the understanding of the body tattooing phenomena. They have given a good illustration of positive and negative meanings tattoo conveys in America and other parts of the