Tattoo Subculture in Iraq-392

In a recent reading assignment, “The New Tattoo Subculture,” Anne Velliquette and Jeff Murray explore the new social meanings of tattoos in American society. Throughout an involved participant study, the pair found that the tattoo artists’ legitimization of their career as an art form has weakened the accepted stigma about tattoos—that engaging in this subculture is an act of deviant behavior. When this article was written in the 1990s, it was estimated that 12-20 million Americans have joined the subculture. Their findings suggested that “tattoos are a form of self-expression, a way to communicate to others some aspect of the wearer’s identity,” for the same purpose that we adorn our bodies with jewelry, wear make-up, etc. (Ferguson 80).

One such recent example in which tattoos are used as a form of self-identity is in Iraq. An article written in December 2007 for Gorilla’s Guides relates the emerging tattoo subculture to the fear of impending death. (Gorilla Guides is an informal blog-turned-newswire that reports interesting analysis on the events in Iraq.) This editorial piece reports that tattoos have become “useful in identifying the deceased” when their bodies are otherwise mutilated beyond identification.

I thought that this article was an interesting extension of Velliquette and Murray’s previous analysis. They acknowledge the tattoo as a form of identity, but it seems Iraqi’s are employing this in an especially literal way. Most members of this subculture choose a symbol that only their family and close friends will recognize and associate with them, so that their identity is not revealed to strangers, for privacy reasons.

But not only does the tattoo subculture benefit the consumer, it also has opened up a market for the producer. Tattoo artist al-Rubaie claims that “I was an illegal immigrant during the former (Iraqi) regime. I settled in Beirut where I learnt the art of tattoo. I was poorly paid, but now I make heaps of money from it. Tattoos in Baghdad are many times their prices in Beirut” (Tattoo Industry).

I think the most interesting aspect of this emergent subculture is the fact that many Iraqis feel it to be an extension of Western culture—from the United States—and many are resistant to it. With the sudden influx of American soldiers at the time of our invasion, this is perhaps one element of our culture that the Iraqi culture has adopted. One interviewee reports that he got a dragon to represent masculinity. Not until this century, just years after the US invasion, has this form of self-expression really taken off in Iraq.

Tattoo subculture is constantly being redefined in American society as more acceptable, and is quickly diffusing in the Iraqi society, showing that cultural changes can happen quickly when sudden cultural upheavals occur. In the same way that America was made a “melting pot” of cultures with its colonization, so too is Iraq when the people of different cultures are distributed differently. It is hard to predict implications of this cultural change, but we have already seen both resistance to the change and economic changes with the new tattoo market emerging. Though we notice mostly opposition from the Iraqi people in regards to US involvement, perhaps we are offering more than the promise of peace—we are offering cultural artifacts such as the tattoo that will take on distinct cultural implications in Iraqi society.

Gorilla Guides (original blogger account)
Tattoo Industry Flourishes in Iraq