ABSTRACT This paper explores multispecies families and nonhuman kinship through the lens of tattoo narratives, namely those that accompany designs dedicated to a companion animal. Although some tattoos are purely aesthetic, many embody deep personal meanings. Humans use narrative as a tool to endow meaning to experience, and the visual nature of a tattoo invites the telling of a story. Participants in this study were compelled to commemorate a special bond shared with their companion animal in the form of a tattoo. A discourse analysis approach was applied to examine narratives under the framework of “nurture kinship” and the theory of kinship as “mutuality of being,” as well as the role of memorial tattoos in griefwork and the theory of “continuing bonds.” Through embodied story-telling, tattoos can help the be- reaved maintain an absent presence with the deceased. This study supports the conclusion that humans can and do form kinship bonds with other animals and that memorial tattoos serve similar functions, regardless of the species of the deceased loved one.

中文翻译：

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纹身叙事：洞察多物种亲属关系和悲伤

摘要 本文通过纹身叙事的镜头探索了多物种家庭和非人类亲属关系，即那些伴随着专门为伴侣动物设计的设计。虽然有些纹身纯粹是审美的，但很多都体现了深刻的个人意义。人类使用叙事作为赋予体验意义的工具，而纹身的视觉性质则邀请了故事的讲述。这项研究的参与者被迫以纹身的形式纪念与他们的伴侣动物分享的特殊纽带。运用话语分析的方法，在“亲缘关系”和“存在互惠”的亲属关系理论以及纪念文身在悲伤工作中的作用和“持续联系”理论的框架下考察叙事。通过具体的讲故事，纹身可以帮助死者与死者保持不在场。这项研究支持这样一个结论，即人类可以而且确实与其他动物建立了亲缘关系，而且纪念纹身具有类似的功能，无论死者的亲人是什么物种。