This fascinating collection explores the growing range of body modification practices such as piercing, tattooing, branding, cutting and inserting implants, which have sprung up recently in the West. It asks whether this implies that we are returning to traditional tribal practices of inscribing identities onto bodies on the part of ′modern primitives′, or is body modification better understood as purely cosmetic and decorative with body markings merely temporary signs of transferable loyalties? Contributors address the question of the permanence of body transformation through fitness regimes and body building; look at the French performance artist Orlan and the Australian performance artist Stelarc who explored Western standard of beauty by experimenting on their own bodies with surgery and prosthetics; and explore the construction of the anatomy of a virtual body in Real Video Surgery and the Visible Human Project. Academics and students in sociology, cultural studies, anthropology, communication studies, social psycholgy and art and design
CONTRIBUTORS′ AFFILIATIONS OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA:
Robert Ayers Nottingham Trent University
Roy Boyne University of Durham
Julie Clarke RMIT University, Melbourne
Neal Curtis Nottingham Trent University
Ross Farnell Monash University, Australia
Jane Goodall UWS Hawkesbury, Australia
Christian Klesse University of Essex
Kevin McCarron Roehampton Institute, London
Lee Monaghan Cardiff University
Roberta Sassatelli University of East Anglia
Margrit Shildrick Staffordshire University
Stelarc Australian performance artist; Research Consultant, Nottingham Trent University
Paul Sweetman University of Durham
Bryan S Turner University of Cambridge
Nicholas Zurbrugg De Montfort University