PUNK CULTURE EMBRACING TRIBAL CULTURE: TATTOOING, PIERCINGS, SCARIFICATION

Punk culture has seemed to really embrace primitive cultures, or what some call neo-tribalism. The extreme piercings they have been embraced in punk culture, has been praticed for thousand years by indigenous, native, and tribal cultures in Asia, South America, and Africa. One of the characters in the Afro-Punk film, mentioned how this connection allowed her to embrace her African culture while simutaneously embracing punk culture. It was very easy for me to relate to this, because this same thing is what allured me into gauging ears. Gauging ears is known as ear stretching. Ear strecthing started in Africa. It is said that Africans would stretch their ears and other places of the body, lips, nasal septums, and tongue to appear ugly, so that they would not be taken as slaves. Gauged ears became a symbol of freedom. Now in western youth subcultures, like punk, gauged ears has become very popular. This is not limited to just ear stretching. Tattooing, piercing, scarification and other extreme aesthetics have been celebrated by punk culture for decades. Punks have embrace these things for many reasons: shocking the establishment, expressing one’s identity, or for some to feel a connection to their heritage.