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Body Modification (body + modification)
Selected AbstractsSHOULD WE PREVENT NON-THERAPEUTIC MUTILATION AND EXTREME BODY MODIFICATION?BIOETHICS, Issue 1 2008THOMAS SCHRAMME ABSTRACT In this paper, I discuss several arguments against non-therapeutic mutilation. Interventions into bodily integrity, which do not serve a therapeutic purpose and are not regarded as aesthetically acceptable by the majority, e.g. tongue splitting, branding and flesh stapling, are now practised, but, however, are still seen as a kind of ,aberration' that ought not to be allowed. I reject several arguments for a possible ban on these body modifications. I find the common pathologisation of body modifications, Kant's argument of duties to oneself and the objection from irrationality all wanting. In conclusion, I see no convincing support for prohibition of voluntary mutilations. [source] Bodies of Cultures: A World Tour of Body ModificationMUSEUM ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2006CARRIE HERTZ Bodies of Cultures:. World Tour of Body Modification. An online exhibition of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.CARRIEHERTZ [source] Generating Animatable 3D Virtual Humans from PhotographsCOMPUTER GRAPHICS FORUM, Issue 3 2000WonSook Lee We present an easy, practical and efficient full body cloning methodology. This system utilizes photos taken from the front, side and back of a person in any given imaging environment without requiring a special background or a controlled illuminating condition. A seamless generic body specified in the VRML H-Anim 1.1 format is used to generate an individualized virtual human. The system is composed of two major components: face-cloning and body-cloning. The face-cloning component uses feature points on front and side images and then applies DFFD for shape modification. Next a fully automatic seamless texture mapping is generated for 360° coloring on a 3D polygonal model. The body-cloning component has two steps: (i feature points specification, which enables automatic silhouette detection in an arbitrary background (ii two-stage body modification by using feature points and body silhouette respectively. The final integrated human model has photo-realistic animatable face, hands, feet and body. The result can be visualized in any VRML compliant browser. [source] Differences in personality characteristics between body-modified and non-modified individuals: associations with individual personality traits and their possible evolutionary implicationsEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 7 2007Silke Wohlrab Abstract After a long history of negative stigmatisation, the practices of tattooing and body piercing have become fashionable in the last decade. Today, 10% of the population in modern western societies have some form of body modification. The aim of this study was to quantify the demographic and personality traits of tattooed and pierced individuals and to compare them with a control group of individuals without body modifications. These comparisons are based on questionnaires completed by 359 individuals that investigate the details of body modification, and which incorporate five personality scales. We describe several sex differences in ornament style and location. We found no relevant differences between modified and non-modified individuals in relation to demographic variables. This indicates that some of the traditional attitudes towards tattoos and piercings appear to be outdated. However, we found striking differences in personality traits which suggest that body-modified individuals are greater sensation seekers and follow a more unrestricted mating strategy than their non-modified contemporaries. We discuss these differences in light of a potential signalling function of tattoos and piercings in the mating context. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Narcissism: fragile bodies in a fragile world.PSYCHOTHERAPY AND POLITICS INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2008Part Abstract In this two-part paper, we explore how, in Western society, intensified consumer culture, playing on feelings of shame and inadequacy, can be seen as reactivating the ,narcissistic wound' while the recent growth of information technology increasingly provides access to a global spectacle and a virtual world that offer an escape from reality, fuelling the illusion of immortality and invulnerability to physical/emotional needs. We ask who benefits from this culture of unrelatedness and disembodiment and what are the repercussions in terms of participation in social life and organized response to global issues. Using material from our practices and from social life, we seek to identify the collective cost of maintaining a disassociation that can permeate not only the therapeutic process but also work, personal relationships and events on the political stage. We consider a view of Bush as a narcissistic president in a narcissistic culture with the Iraq war as a narcissistic misadventure, and we present vignettes from the consulting room, Dance Movement Therapy work in Holloway Prison, and the academic world of prehistoric archaeology to show how narcissistic behaviours are embedded in many diverse situations in Western society. We ask how the concept of narcissism in our media age can help us understand phenomena such as the rise of fundamentalism; celebrity cult; insatiable aspirations to ,self-improvement'; obsession with ,success' and consumer goodies; the denial of ageing; the upsurge in cosmetic surgery, body modification and self-harm; as well as growing addiction to alcohol and hard drugs. Finally we ask, how do the narcissistic fantasy of self-sufficiency, the disavowal of loss and the denial of the ultimate non-discursive reality of death affect our ability to respond appropriately to human injustice and the fragility of our planet? Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Investigating cultural heterogeneity in San Pedro de Atacama, northern Chile, through biogeochemistry and bioarchaeologyAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 4 2009Kelly J. Knudson Abstract Individuals living in the San Pedro de Atacama oases and the neighboring upper Loa River Valley of northern Chile experienced the collapse of an influential foreign polity, environmental decline, and the appearance of a culturally distinct group during the Late Intermediate Period (ca. AD 1,100,1,400). We investigate cultural heterogeneity at the Loa site of Caspana through analyses of strontium and oxygen isotopes, cranial modification styles, and mortuary behavior, integrating biological aspects of identity, particularly geographic origins, with cultural aspects of identity manifested in body modification and mortuary behavior. We test the hypothesis that the Caspana population (n = 66) represents a migrant group, as supported by archeological and ethnographic evidence, rather than a culturally distinct local group. For Caspana archeological human tooth enamel, mean 87Sr/86Sr = 0.70771 ± 0.00038 (1,, n = 30) and mean ,18Oc(V-PDB) = ,3.9 ± 0.6, (1,, n = 16); these isotopic data suggest that only one individual lived outside the region. Material culture suggests that the individuals buried at Caspana shared some cultural affinity with the San Pedro oases while maintaining distinct cultural traditions. Finally, cranial modification data show high frequencies of head shaping [92.4% (n = 61/65)] and an overwhelming preference for annular modification [75.4% (n = 46/61)], contrasting sharply with practices in the San Pedro area. Based on multiple lines of evidence, we argue that, rather than representing a group of altiplano migrants, the Caspana population existed in the region for some time. However, cranial modification styles and mortuary behavior that are markedly distinct from patterns in surrounding areas raise the possibility of cultural heterogeneity and cultural fissioning. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] | |||||||||||||