Corpo e tatuagem: estudo dos seus significados entre os detentos no Amapá

Abstract

The present reasearch titled “Totoo and body: Study of their meanings among inmates in Amapá” brings in its contents a reflection about of tattoo inside of the Administration Penitentiary Institute of the State of Amapá, analysing causes of why prisoners tattoo themselves and the meaning of this body marks principally to them. While belongins to a group of prisoners of this institution, this prisioners establish between them, a way of comuniucation specific and well ariticulated to make easy the closeness inside of the jail and, just like that complicate the police officer and penitentiary agent‟s job in the face of any situation provoked by them. The tattoo intensify the relationships in the prison. The prison, by its time, impose a broad space of values and determines the idea of body imprisoned. It is ordinary we to find tattoed prisoners, fact that can transport to many meanings (codes) identifiables between them whenever they are (KIFFER, 2006). The tattooed bodies entwine with the look of an other person, what guarantee the symbolic function of the tattoo, and the prison, in marks that it makes, builds and transforms these bodies. In this sense, according to Le Breton (2007), we search to understand the relationships and determinations made by body as semantic vector to represent, in articulated way, through the tattoo the reality. For the preparation of this study of case, occurred interviews from the application of questionnaries to the prisoners, for this way, we know the causes and the meanings of the object of study. Besides, we did a revision of literature to supply the theoricalmethodological foundation necessary to the construction of this research.