Among female youth in Nigeria, especially those living in Abuja, Nigeria's Federal Capital Territ... more Among female youth in Nigeria, especially those living in Abuja, Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and its environs, skin design or tattooing has become a trendy social ritual in reinventing the notion of the "self" or perceived personhood, according to some subjective relevance. The body, or the skin in particular, has become a site for cultural (re)production and interpretation of meaning and a symbolic resource for embodied social capital and individual agency. This article interrogates the practice of tattooing among these youth: its motivations, semiotic interpretations, and perception. It illuminates how female tattoos have helped to create a conceptual dialogue between the biological (objective) body and the social (subjective) body. The study is conceptually rooted in African feminist thoughts and postmodern perspectives about the (female) body which view it as a text that can be written, rewritten and interpreted in powerful ways through a cultural lens. The results indicate that female tattoos are symbolic investments that represent fashion, self-expression, individuality, social change and sexual agency. Fundamentally, the aesthetic and artistic female body is deployed to reconstruct postmodern female identity while protesting the mainstream stereotyped representation of women especially in a male-dominated conservative society like Nigeria.
In Jovanovic, G., Allolio-Nacke, L. and Ratner, C. (Eds.) The challenges of cultural psychology: Historical legacies and future responsibilities., 2018
Among rural youth in southern Cross River State, southeastern Nigeria, proverbial nicknames foreg... more Among rural youth in southern Cross River State, southeastern Nigeria, proverbial nicknames foreground dimensions of power relations, especially hegemonic masculinity, tell stories about past exploits, and accentuate locally relevant values that emphasize conformity to societal norms. Index-ical and emblematic meanings of nicknames in the social contexts where they are given and used are investigated, as are the sources, social significance, and perception of these names with reference to Paul Leslie and James Skipper's claim that nicknames reflect processes of social action that provide meaning and guide the transmission of cultural knowledge. Nicknames are not ordinary social emblems of identity, solidarity, and group dynamics; they also mirror cultural assumptions and reflect a wide range of value categories and moral codes in the rural space.
Among female youth in Nigeria, especially those living in Abuja, Nigeria's Federal Capital Territ... more Among female youth in Nigeria, especially those living in Abuja, Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and its environs, skin design or tattooing has become a trendy social ritual in reinventing the notion of the "self" or perceived personhood, according to some subjective relevance. The body, or the skin in particular, has become a site for cultural (re)production and interpretation of meaning and a symbolic resource for embodied social capital and individual agency. This article interrogates the practice of tattooing among these youth: its motivations, semiotic interpretations, and perception. It illuminates how female tattoos have helped to create a conceptual dialogue between the biological (objective) body and the social (subjective) body. The study is conceptually rooted in African feminist thoughts and postmodern perspectives about the (female) body which view it as a text that can be written, rewritten and interpreted in powerful ways through a cultural lens. The results indicate that female tattoos are symbolic investments that represent fashion, self-expression, individuality, social change and sexual agency. Fundamentally, the aesthetic and artistic female body is deployed to reconstruct postmodern female identity while protesting the mainstream stereotyped representation of women especially in a male-dominated conservative society like Nigeria.
In Jovanovic, G., Allolio-Nacke, L. and Ratner, C. (Eds.) The challenges of cultural psychology: Historical legacies and future responsibilities., 2018
Among rural youth in southern Cross River State, southeastern Nigeria, proverbial nicknames foreg... more Among rural youth in southern Cross River State, southeastern Nigeria, proverbial nicknames foreground dimensions of power relations, especially hegemonic masculinity, tell stories about past exploits, and accentuate locally relevant values that emphasize conformity to societal norms. Index-ical and emblematic meanings of nicknames in the social contexts where they are given and used are investigated, as are the sources, social significance, and perception of these names with reference to Paul Leslie and James Skipper's claim that nicknames reflect processes of social action that provide meaning and guide the transmission of cultural knowledge. Nicknames are not ordinary social emblems of identity, solidarity, and group dynamics; they also mirror cultural assumptions and reflect a wide range of value categories and moral codes in the rural space.
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