Professor awarded for book on cultural roots of tattoos

In today's society, the most prominent form of body modification is the tattoo. Over the past few decades, tattooing has become a part of mainstream culture as well as a representation of individuality for those who choose to turn their skin to a canvas for this unique art form. Today, tattoos adorn the bodies of rock stars, athletes, movie stars and supermodels-all of whom play an integral part in contemporary culture. Despite the popularity of tattoos, few people are aware of the origin of this distinctive art form. This is the precise question that Loyola's very own English professor, Dr. Juniper Ellis, sought to answer in her book, Tattooing the World: Pacific Designs in Print and Skin.

Dr. Ellis is a scholar of 19th- and 20th-century American, Maori and Pacific Island literature with a Ph.D. in English from Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Originally a chemistry major at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, Ellis confessed to changing her major to English her sophomore year without telling her mother because she has such a strong inborn love for literature. Of her love for literature Ellis jokes, "As a kid, I probably checked out 20 books a week. I think I read every book the library had so it was just kind of obvious it was something I had to do. In retrospect, I look back, and I am like, "What was I thinking with chemistry?"

Ellis' interest in Pacific literature was first sparked while working on an independent research project with a professor her freshman year of college. For the research project, Ellis had the task of reading Keri Hulme's The Bone People, a book that explores the indigenous Maori culture of New Zealand, and she "just fell in love with [it]."

The experience and knowledge Ellis gained while working on the research project motivated her to apply for a Fulbright Fellowship her senior year of college, which she was awarded. She used it to go to New Zealand to further study Pacific literature. "I really think independent research projects can change the shape of a student's career," says Ellis, "because it did for me."

Ellis' first conception of the idea for her book drew from two simultaneous experiences. While doing archival research on tattoos, Ellis kept coming across the fact that tattoos came from the Pacific. At the same time she was doing this research, Ellis noticed that her students started getting tattoos increasingly prominently. These two things in conjunction made her want to tell the story of how tattoo came from the Pacific and spread like wildfire around the world.

Ellis was able to write her book on sabbatical during the 2004-2005 academic years, and the Columbia University Press published it in March 2008. Although the start-to-finish process may have only taken a little over three years, Ellis admits, " I had been gathering material for the book for years prior to the actual writing of the book."

The New York Post listed Ellis' book as "required reading," and the Irish Voice applauded it for being "beautifully written." City Paper, who bestowed Ellis with the nod for "Best New Book Written by a Local Author," praised her for authoring "a tattoo book that is as respectfully inquisitive and scholarly informed as it is sincerely fascinated by the beauty of the art form."

Tattooing the World: Pacific Designs in Print and Skin bridges the gap between the contemporary art form of tattoo and its ancient Pacific roots.

"I think in a way it builds bridges among different communities, so I am really hopeful about [the] way it will inspire people," Ellis says of her book.

With everything that Ellis has gained from the journey and experience of writing her book, Ellis says, "I think, above all, I want my students to be inspired by a love of learning and the joy of encountering themselves in the world."