ABSTRACT

By examining the narratives associated with animal-themed tattoos, this study explores the various ways in which humans relate to other animals. Participants used animal-likenesses to think about themselves, others, and the world around them. By embodying positive attributes of a species that they loved and admired, the tattoos enabled participants to construct meaning and identities based on shared human–animal traits. A thematic discourse analysis of the tattoo narratives grouped them as (1) shared experiences with another species, (2) life experiences and semiotic production of meaning, (3) animal traits embedded in the process of identity formation, (4) animals representing a connection with other humans, or (5) experiences of and/or ideas about animals that represent a profound or transcendent experience. The tattoo narratives were examined in the context of theoretical frameworks associated with “symbolic interactionism” and “interspecies intersubjectivities” to understand how animals were perceived and engaged with. In contrast to how nonhuman animals are often used as objects of ridicule, or representations of inferiority and uncouthness in various discourses and mediums, the animal subjects of the tattoos discussed here are positively portrayed and incorporated into the bearers’ own identity. Participants merged ideas about humanity and animality in a manner not representative of a naturalistic ontology, but rather a form of anthropomorphism that is dichotomous with naturalism.

摘要

通过检查与动物主题纹身相关的叙述，这项研究探索了人类与其他动物相关的各种方式。参与者使用动物的相似性来思考自己、他人和周围的世界。通过体现他们喜爱和钦佩的物种的积极属性，纹身使参与者能够根据人类与动物的共同特征构建意义和身份。纹身叙事的主题话语分析将它们归为 (1) 与另一个物种的共享经验，(2) 生活经历和意义的符​​号生产，(3) 嵌入身份形成过程中的动物特征，(4) 代表一个物种的动物与其他人的联系，或 (5) 代表深刻或超然体验的动物体验和/或想法。在与“符号互动主义”和“物种间主体间性”相关的理论框架的背景下检查纹身叙事，以了解动物是如何被感知和参与的。与非人类动物经常被用作嘲笑的对象，或在各种话语和媒介中自卑和粗鲁的表现相反，这里讨论的纹身的动物主题被积极地描绘并融入了承载者自己的身份中。参与者以一种不代表自然主义本体论的方式融合了关于人性和动物性的想法，而是一种与自然主义二分法的拟人化形式。