Theorizing the body as a space where subjectivity is materialized, in this thesis, Iudexamine women’s spiritually-inspired tattoos as embodied life narratives. Broadly speaking, audprimary goal of my research is to better understand ways in which women experienceudspirituality. More precisely, I am interested in the ways in which women enact experiences ofudcontemporary spirituality through voluntary tattooing practices.udBy using a corporeal feminist lens that rejects the Cartesian mind-body dualism (Hornerudand Keane 1), I propose that some women use the intimate connections that they have with theirudbodies to express thoughts, beliefs, experiences and their pasts (Arp xiv). By keeping in mindudthat body art has the potential to narrate experiences of subjectivity (A. Jones 13), my central aimudin this thesis is to conceptualize the ways in which inked flesh functions as a space forudperformative auto/biographical storytelling. Emerging from this, following Amelia Jones, myudanalysis presumes that body art is neither inherently critical nor inherently reactionary (14).udInstead, in this iteration, I propose that tattoos are implicit and explicit expressions of women’sudlived experiences of spirituality, which are intersubjective and multivalent. Tattoos, therefore, areudpolysemic narratives enacted contextually. In short, I argue that women’s spiritually-inspiredudtattoos potentially have profound meanings for the bearer which far exceed decorationud(Hemingson 10).
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