Customizing the Body (PDF file) - Print My Tattoo

197 Methodological Appendix
times be an adventure. During the course of the research a wellknown
tattooist was murdered by an intruder with a shotgun. On
another occasion two men entered the studio of a renowned East
Coast tattoo artist a couple of weeks after I had spent much of the
day with him and robbed the shop while waving a pair of Uzi machine
guns in a decidedly threatening manner. This experience
convinced the understandably unnerved tattooist to relocate his
operation to a hopefully more tranquil setting on the West Coast.
This book describes a social world in which I have lived and
worked, learned and played for about seven years. In so doing I
have participated in ways which have gone somewhat beyond the
formal-necessities ofbuilding what would generally be regarded as
an adequate academic analysis of the tattoo phenomenon and the
webs of social interaction that surround it. The experience has
changed me significantly, both psychologically and physically.
Through literally "becoming the phenomenon" I have been able to
attain a level of "intimate familiarity" possessed by few other social
observers.
Upon initially entering the field I was struck by the apparent
trust-enhanCing value of the tattoo I already wore-especially
since the small piece had been done by a "name" tattooist. The
tattoo overtly demonstrated my symbolic membership in, and
commitment to, the tattoo community. I was more than simply a
journalist or other outsider who wanted to produce yet another
amusing article or otherwise exploit the phenomenon because of
its exotic features. As the fieldwork proceeded I also realized that
enlarging my tattoo collection, especially through receiving work
from the tattooists with whom I regularly interacted, was an important
step. Once again, I put my body on the line and acqUired
a medium-sized image on my forearm and a small design on my
right earlobe. This latter marking of public skin-an area where
only tattooists or committed enthusiasts carry pieces-clearly
demonstrated symbolically the level of my own involvement.
Although not held entirely seriously, the idea that tattooing is
addictive-that the tattoo pigment enters the bloodstream and
impels one to "get more ink"-is a commonplace within the tattoo
subculture. As my time in the field and my knowledge of the quality
of the work being produced by the most skilled tattoo artists