'No Nation of Experts': Kustom Tattooing and the Middle-Class Body in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia

Date

2017-02-19

Authors

Hegarty, Benjamin

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Abstract

Tattooing among young middle-class people in Indonesia has increased noticeably since the late 2000s. I draw on ethnographic research in tattoo studios alongside interviews and magazine sources to locate the style known as kustom within its social and cultural context. I describe how kustom tattooing is the product of patterns of consumption centred on the body, drawing resources from a globalised, mass media-saturated environment. Indeed, consumers describe it as an important avenue for self-expression. By contrast, tattooists and those inside the scene describe kustom as a way of transcending geographical markers of identity: to be ‘anything and everything’. This article explores this tension between self-expression and the political aims of kustom. Kustom tattooing is also novel by virtue of its absolute emphasis on ‘no expertise’. It thus exposes a space where the stress on expertise and self-improvement, which characterises middle-class cultures in post-authoritarian Indonesia, gives way to creative and hybrid articulations of identity.

Description

Keywords

Tattoo, Kustom, Youth Culture, Masculinity, Indonesia, Globalisation

Citation

Source

The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology

Type

Journal article

Book Title

Entity type

Access Statement

Open Access

License Rights

Restricted until

2037-12-31