Tattoo Culture And Globalization

Previously, tattooing and body modifications were considered a form of art that communicated a message and had a deep cultural meaning or even a religious meaning. These messages were often related to intangible cultural values and traditional moral views. Over the past few decades there were many cultures around the globe that had a rich traditional culture of tattooing and body scarification. However due to western culture influence and the new era of globalization and civilization, many of these cultures have lost their tattooing tradition or it is in the process of extinction. Globalization, civilization and Western values are slowly changing traditions, cultures and the conditions under which tattoos are today generated. These changes have allowed the slow extinctions of traditional tattooing cultures and the birth of a new modern tattooing era. In this essay the question is how does globalization and civilization allow the slow extinction of traditional tattooing culture and plays a role in the birth of a new modern tattooing culture?

To answer the research question, I studied and examined The Kalinga of the Philippine Cordillera Mountains. I also studied the Dinka, a South Sudanese tribe that practices scarification as a form of initiations and the modern era of tattoos in order to illustrate the slow extinction of the Kalinga tattooing tradition and the birth of modern tattoo art. Primary sources that were collected from the Internet were used to investigate this