Overview

The Konyaks - a once fearsome headhunting tribe in Nagaland on the border of Myanmar in northeast India - are well known for their iconic body and facial tattoos, originally earned for taking an enemy's head. This book - over four years in the making - is the personal journey of a Konyak woman who retraces the steps of her grandfather and great-grandfather by documenting her tribe's tattooing practices. She explores the Konyak's concept of beautification of the body using it as a canvas for art, with inscriptions marked on the skin as a form of rite of passage and cycle of life. With elegant and powerful portraits of elders, both men and women, this book preserves the unique but vanishing practices of the culture, together with tattoo patterns, their meanings, and the oral traditions attached to them in folktales, songs, poems and sayings. It includes descriptions and information on headhunting and tattooing practices; reasons behind them; techniques used; tattoo artists; different tattoo groups; types of tattoos; and personal stories. Contents: The Konyaks; Headhunting; Traditional Tattooing Art; Tattoo Artist; Face Tattoo Group SHEN-TU; Body Tattoo Group TANGTA-TU; Nose Tattoo Group KONG-TU; The Last of the Tattooed Headhunters; Glossary.
ISBN-13

9789351941125

ISBN-10

9351941124

Weight

3.00 Pounds

Dimensions

8.54 x 1.05 x 11.97 In

List Price

$59.95

Edition

1st Edition

Format

Hardcover

Language

English

Pages

200 pages

Publisher

Roli Books

Published On

2018-09-06


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Bonita
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Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
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Bonita
★★★★☆

Santa Clarita, CA, USA

$158.30

 Free delivery by: 04 Apr 2026


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