This research examines how tattooists, as service providers, construct and present race through their promotional materials. Much like other service occupations tattooists need to locate clients. To entice potential clientele, tattooists provide samples of their work in the form of an online portfolio, which contains images of tattoos or art produced. Drawing on Goffman’s (1976) understanding of how gender is presented in advertisements, this research examines how tattooists present race in their portfolios. In other words, each portfolio is a social situation in which messages about race are presented to an audience. This research concludes that tattooists’ portfolios disproportionately show images containing members of specific racial categories. The implications of this work demonstrate how race and racial categories are social constructs, contextually situated, that operate across social worlds.
About the presentersDavid C. Lane
David C. Lane is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Sciences at Illinois State University. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Delaware. His research focuses primarily in two areas: deviance and crime, and the culture of tattoo work. Currently, he serves as the Chair of the Body Art and Images section of MAPACA.
Shekendra Morgan
Shekendra is an undergraduate student studying Theatre Performance, Sociology, and Religion at the University of South Dakota.