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amos final.pdf (1.14 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

"I Can Do Whatever the Hell I Want”: Female Tattoo Artists, Their Experiences, and Identity Creation

Amos, Johni
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1572816773151793

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, American Culture Studies.
In this dissertation I explore the lived experience and identity creation of female tattoo artists. Identity is not singular, as such this project examines identity on multiple levels, each more specific: identity in the broad tattoo community, identity as a tattooed woman, and identity as a female tattoo artist. Each chapter explores identity and experiences within its particular focus and provides evidence, based on interviews, observations, and supporting research, as to how participants negotiate their agency to constitute their identities. I utilize both a phenomenological and ethnographic approach. As such, I conducted interviews with seven female tattoo artists as well as five female clients and two male colleagues. The chapters are built around the emerging themes from these interviews and observed interactions, as well as my own experiences as a tattooed woman. These themes include handling emerging conflicts as participants identify with or resist identification with the tattoo community, navigating personal reasons for getting tattooed amidst the various reactions of others, and negotiating their identities as female tattoo artists while encountering societal gender norms as well as gender norms within the tattoo industry. Through the participants’ narratives, their experiences, how they navigate a male dominated work environment, how they constitute their identity and challenge or reify gender norms is revealed.
Lesa Lockford, PhD (Advisor)
Bradford Clark, MFA (Other)
Radhika Gajjala, PhD (Committee Member)
Allison Terry-Fritsch, PhD (Committee Member)
192 p.
American Studies; Womens Studies
Female tattoo artists; tattooed women; tattoos; tattoo subculture; identity creation; somaesthetics

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Amos, J. (2019). "I Can Do Whatever the Hell I Want”: Female Tattoo Artists, Their Experiences, and Identity Creation [Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1572816773151793

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Amos, Johni. "I Can Do Whatever the Hell I Want”: Female Tattoo Artists, Their Experiences, and Identity Creation. 2019. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1572816773151793.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Amos, Johni. ""I Can Do Whatever the Hell I Want”: Female Tattoo Artists, Their Experiences, and Identity Creation." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1572816773151793

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1572816773151793
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© 2019, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.