The Maori tattoo. A Colonized Skin.

Ana de Aymerich Viñuela

Inés Bolaños Somoano

Cristina Díaz Pérez

Carolina Gutiérrez Gómez

INDEX

Materials and procedures……………………………………….3

Introduction……………………………………………………...3

Main body………………………………………………………..3

Historical context………………………………………….3

Interpretations of the words "tattoo" and "Ta Moko"....4

European perspective on tattoos.........................................5

Maori perspective on tattoos……………………………...8

Conclusion……………………………………………………….10

Bibliography and references…………………………………....12

Materials and procedure.

As we were interested in the fact that Maori tattooing is widely spread around the world, we decided to investigate in its origins and how the meaning and connotations of tattoos changed with the arrival of colonizers. Therefore, we searched information on JSTOR, and found a series of articles, that we narrowed down into basically two: of Caplan and of Hambly. In addition, books such as Beginning Postcolonialism, and Art and Maori culture in Aotearoa/New Zealand were sources of information as well. With this search as base, we gather and discuss the accurate way to carry out the report.

A traditional Samoan male tattoo from the waist to...

Italiano: Moko caratteristico tatuaggio delle trib...

Figure 1

During a series of sessions, we work together and separately on the project and eventually wrote it down.

2. Introduction

The aim of this report is to deal with the distortion of the word "tattoo" (ta moko, in Maori) since its origins as a Maori word, to its current meaning nowadays in Western societies, and to provide a suitable explanation for this shift in connotation. In order to do so, it will be necessary to start by understanding the state of affairs given both in Europe and in Aotearoa before the cultural clash and its following consequences. So as to handle these issues objectively, a number of critical texts in Postcolonialism, being the main influences the theories of Said, Fanon, Caplan and other critical authors belonging to the boom of Postcolonial studies during the 1980's will be used. The Treaty of Waitangi, due to its...