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The Body as (Another) Place: Producing Embodied Heterotopias Through Tattooing

Author

Listed:
  • Dominique Roux
  • Russell Belk
  • Vicki G MorwitzEditor
  • Margaret C CampbellEditor
  • Güliz GerAssociate Editor

Abstract

While previous research has mobilized sociological and psychological readings of the body, this study considers it ontologically as the ultimate place we must live in, with no escape possible. A phenomenological framework and a four-year, multimethod, qualitative study of tattoo recipients and tattooists substantiates the conceptualization of the body as a threefold articulation: an inescapable place (topia), the source of utopias arising from fleeting trajectories between here and elsewhere, and the “embodied heterotopia” that it becomes when people rework their bodies as a better place to inhabit. We show how tattooed bodies are spatially conceived as a topia through their topographies, territories, landscapes, and limits. We then highlight how this creates a dynamic interplay between past, present, and future, resulting in utopian dreams of beautification, escape, conjuration, and immutability. Finally, we show how tattooees produce embodied heterotopias, namely other places that both mirror and compensate for their ontological entrapment. In considering the body as a place, our framework enriches phenomenological and existential approaches to self-transformation in contemporary consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Dominique Roux & Russell Belk & Vicki G MorwitzEditor & Margaret C CampbellEditor & Güliz GerAssociate Editor, 2019. "The Body as (Another) Place: Producing Embodied Heterotopias Through Tattooing," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 46(3), pages 483-507.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:46:y:2019:i:3:p:483-507.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jcr/ucy081
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Dominique Roux, 2020. "Entre ici et ailleurs : expressions consommatoires des utopies du corps," Post-Print hal-02949806, HAL.
    2. Bernard Cova, 2021. "The new frontier of consumer experiences: escape through pain," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 11(1), pages 60-69, June.
    3. Aleksandrina Atanasova, 2021. "Re-examining utopia in contemporary consumption: conceptualization and implications for marketing," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 11(1), pages 23-39, June.
    4. Anne Kastarinen & Elina Närvänen & Anu Valtonen & Linda L Price & June Cotte & Zeynep Arsel, 2023. "Doing Family over Time: The Multilayered and Multitemporal Nature of Intergenerational Caring through Consumption," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 50(2), pages 282-302.
    5. Lavoye, Virginie & Tarkiainen, Anssi & Sipilä, Jenni & Mero, Joel, 2023. "More than skin-deep: The influence of presence dimensions on purchase intentions in augmented reality shopping," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    6. Justyna Kramarczyk & Mathieu Alemany Oliver, 2022. "Accumulative vs. Appreciative Expressions of Materialism: Revising Materialism in Light of Polish Simplifiers and New Materialism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(4), pages 701-719, February.

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