Origin Of Tattooing Essay

Academics, historians and anthropologists have stated that the origins of Western tattooing can be traced back to the pre-European era in the South Pacific, as was recorded in Captain Cook’s journals of his encounters with Polynesian natives during the eighteenth century. This is echoed by Juliet Fleming (2000, p. 67) who wrote, “the word ‘tattoo’ made its first English appearance in James Cook’s account of his voyage to the Polynesian basin, published in London in 1769.” Similarly, Margo DeMello stated, “it was through the early explorations of the Pacific that tattooing entered into modern European consciousness,” (DeMello, 2000, p. 45). Alfred Gell (1993, p. 10) theorised that “tattooing, as it is now practiced in Western countries, originated as a consequence of European expansion into the Pacific. He called it “an encounter phenomenon” (ibid).
From these observations, it was generally asserted that the English word “tattoo” is a derivation of the Tahitian word tatau meaning “to strike” and, the words “tattowing” and “tattooing” were first published in the …show more content…
Tattoos of all kinds are seen on the bodies of most of these young people. The Samoan tatau (or pe’a), is the term for ‘tattoos’. The Samoan traditional tatau worn by men begins from the waist and extends below the knee cap, while the malu, “tattoo,” worn by females extends from the top of the thigh down below the knee. These are the traditional adornments by which the tatau and malu are supposed to be worn and the older Samoan people who grew up with the traditions tend to have differing views to those of the younger New Zealand born generation. The latter tend to call all sorts of inscriptions on their bodies tatau regardless of whether they appear on the arms, on the wrists or on the back to name some of the imprinted body