What do you think?
Rate this book
Return of the Tribal: A Celebration of Body Adornment
A photographic exploration of the modern revival of piercing, tattooing, scarification, and body painting that reveals its origins in tribal culture and practices.
Since earliest times, tribal cultures around the world have used body marks and modifications to indicate membership and rank within the group, identify with spiritual totems, express sacrifice and loss, and enhance physical attraction and sexual enjoyment. Today we are witnessing a renaissance of interest in body adornment that many interpret as a return to our tribal beginnings--a way to identify who we are in an urban world that has lost its sense of community. Return of the Tribal takes a non-judgmental look at a great variety of practices of body adornment and modification--from prehistoric and aboriginal to those of modern urban tribals in cities such as London, New York, Tokyo, and Amsterdam. From the beautiful to the bizarre, the author shows the many beautiful and bizarre ways people choose to alter their appearance.
Since earliest times, tribal cultures around the world have used body marks and modifications to indicate membership and rank within the group, identify with spiritual totems, express sacrifice and loss, and enhance physical attraction and sexual enjoyment. Today we are witnessing a renaissance of interest in body adornment that many interpret as a return to our tribal beginnings--a way to identify who we are in an urban world that has lost its sense of community. Return of the Tribal takes a non-judgmental look at a great variety of practices of body adornment and modification--from prehistoric and aboriginal to those of modern urban tribals in cities such as London, New York, Tokyo, and Amsterdam. From the beautiful to the bizarre, the author shows the many beautiful and bizarre ways people choose to alter their appearance.
- GenresNonfiction
128 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1997
2 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Rufus C. Camphausen
8 books3 followersBorn in Germany, Rufus C. Camphausen is a writer and illustrator now living in the Netherlands.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 27, 2014
As a preface, I bought this book a very, VERY long time ago. I had just pierced my labret, and was hoping to find answers as to what drew me into becoming part of a more fringe group of people. I wasn't belly dancing at the time, I didn't KNOW anyone with a labret. I wasn't playing music or around a bunch of goth kids. I just found it very beautiful, and erotic, and...I wanted one. This book tried to tap into that feeling, but fell way short. There was some actual ethnographic research, but that wasn't really in-depth. And the comparison to beautification in actual tribes/ethnic groups to an American punk getting their nipples pierced somehow prickled me. I'll give the author this...I learned some things that really did shock me (like penile subincision, which I imagine is why this even made it into the book), but for the most part it was sort of similar information in all chapters, just re-arranged. The ethnographic photographs were gorgeous. The photos of the Westernized people getting their freak on left me flat.
Displaying 1 of 1 review