230111 Writing and Inquiry

This article written by Alice Te Punga Somerville is the news about Rihanna’s hand tattoo that has cultural origins in the Maori tribe. The tattoo had sparked a lot of debate among people in social media and her hand became a landscape for controversy. The article describes her tattoo and her hand as a metaphorical place where history has played themselves. Rihanna’s hand, according to the article, had become the landscape in a manner that indigenous people knew their landscapes. “It belongs to someone who has known as long as it has existed.” (Somerville,2014). The article talks about the cultural appropriation of the tattoo she had on her hand. Her hand has been considered to be a palimpsest because it has stories that have been layered. This tattoo represents Maori and Samoan cultures.

The article further states that the interest in her tattoo was not because of the aesthetics of it but the decades of history of suffering and cultures that was embedded in the art. She covered it up after the controversy broke out. Her tattoo has several stories wrapped together such as the Caribbean diaspora which was intended to look like henna which has originated in India. The article also states that the hand has become isolated as an argument of culture and people are not seeing her as a living and breathing human who has a heart and her blood flowing through her veins. The article states that ink has become more important that blood.

References

Somerville, A.T.P., 2014. Shine bright like a moko: the history of Rihanna's tattoo. In Tell you what: great New Zealand nonfiction 2015 (pp. 157-164). Auckland University Press.

Online exams can be a pain in the head. But, you needn’t worry since our online exam help is here at your disposal. No matter how tough the questions are, we have the right team of experts to help you out. The team guides you through all the questions are you struggling to find an answer to. We will provide you with credible study and research material as well, depending on the question. Besides online exam help, we also provide unmatched quality essay writing services and custom writing assistance. You can also hire qualified ghostwriters from our team and get rid of all academic burdens easily.