Revisiting (not so) Commonplace Ideas about the Body: Topia, Utopia and Heterotopia in the World of Tattooing

Abstract

Abstract Purpose This paper brings a fresh contribution to the role of space and places in Consumer Culture Theory. Investigating the context of tattooing, it conceptualizes the various articulations that link the body as a topia and a utopia, and the street shops (as “other” places or heterotopia) where consumers’ identity projects are undertaken. Methodology/approach Our approach is based on an ethnographic work, that is, the observation of the shop and interviews conducted with its two managers, three male tattooists, and a young female apprentice. Findings We show how the changes that affect heterotopic places in the world of tattooing impact the way body identity projects are taken care of. We highlight the material and symbolic exchanges that “take place” and “make place” between the shop as a heterotopia and people’s utopias of the body. Research limitations/implications The research involves a single fieldwork and deliberately focuses on the female apprentice as the main informant of this study. Social implications This paper draws attentions to the emergence of women in the world of tattooing and their transformative role of highly gendered meanings and practices. Originality/value of paper In articulating the links between bodies, their utopias and heterotopic places where these are carried out, we contribute not only to the understanding of the meaning that consumers attribute to the transformation of their body, but also to the role played by spaces – sites as well as gendered bodies – in our understanding of these phenomena.