Blood and Lightning

Regular price €29.99
A01=Dustin Kiskaddon
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Author_Dustin Kiskaddon
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Bodies
Body Labor
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=AFJY
Category=AFY
Category=JBCC1
Category=JFCA
Category=JHMC
COP=United States
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
Embodiment
Emotional Labor
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Ethnography
Goffman
Language_English
Masculinity
PA=Available
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
Socialization
Sociology of Art
softlaunch

Product details

  • ISBN 9781503635609
  • Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
  • Publication Date: 27 Feb 2024
  • Publisher: Stanford University Press
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Hardback
  • Language: English
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days

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Any tattoo is the outcome of an intimate, often hidden process. The people, bodies, and money that make tattooing what it is blend together and form a heady cocktail, something described by Matt, the owner of Oakland's Premium Tattoo, as "blood and lightning." Faced with the client's anticipation of pain and excitement, the tattooer must carefully perform calm authority to obscure a world of preparation and vigilance. "Blood and lightning, my dude"—the mysterious and intoxicating effect of tattooing done right.

Dustin Kiskaddon draws on his own apprenticeship with Matt and takes us behind the scenes into the complex world of professional tattooers. We join people who must routinely manage a messy and carnal type of work. Blood and Lightning brings us through the tattoo shop, where the smell of sterilizing agents, the hum of machines, and the sound of music spill out onto the back patio. It is here that Matt, along with his comrades, reviews the day's wins, bemoans its losses, and prepares for the future.

Having tattooed more than five hundred people, Kiskaddon is able to freshly articulate the physical, mental, emotional, and moral life of tattooers. His captivating account explores the challenges they face on the job, including the crushing fear of making mistakes on someone else's body, the role of masculinity in evolving tattoo worlds, appropriate and inappropriate intimacy, and the task of navigating conversations about color and race.

Ultimately, the stories in this book teach us about the roles our bodies play in the social world. Both mediums and objects of art, our bodies are purveyors of sociocultural significance, sites of capitalist negotiation, and vivid encapsulations of the human condition. Kiskaddon guides us through a strangely familiar world, inviting each of us to become a tattooer along the way.

Dustin Kiskaddon is a cultural sociologist whose work can be seen on Instagram, @Dustin.Kiskaddon. After nearly a decade of teaching and a few years of professional tattooing, he now uses his expertise in culture, the economy, and technology to conduct applied research.