Mary Kosut
Biographic Data
| ID | 72888 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mary Kosut |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mary |
| FAMILY NAME | Kosut |
| SIGNATURE | KOSUT M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Purchase College |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 151 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 9 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Tattoos and Body Modification
Visualising charisma
Although sociologists regard charisma as a social construct, few studies look at the explicit interactions that create and maintain this type of authority. This article examines one specific, but ubiquitous social interaction between leader and follower – the charismatic touch. The charismatic touch is a semi-formal interaction in which leader and followers exchange mutual recognition through verbal, visual and physical touch. Through touching ea…
Bees Making Art
In many cultural fields honeybees reveal themselves as a highly generative species; one that humans have become dependent on. Within the backdrop of Colony Collapse Disorder, this essay examines how live bees are used in the production of art works. Historically, bees have been an absent presence in art as artists have relied upon bees for the raw material they create (wax, honeycomb) and for their metaphorical value. Most recently, bees themselv…
The Artification of Tattoo
Theorized as a Bourdieusian field, this article examines changes inside the tattoo world resulting in the valuation of certain tattoo practices as art and some actors taking 'fine art' positions within it. The category of tattoo art is distinct from tattoo because it positions the practice away from its traditional historic moorings as a lowbrow craft and occupation requiring a rudimentary level of technical skill. In contrast, tattoo art is crea…
Among the colony
As a part of a larger ethnographic study of urban beekeepers in New York City, this article considers the challenges of conducting multispecies participant observation - being in the field with both human and non-human informants, beekeepers and bees. Keeping in mind the intra-active nature of human/insect entanglements, we explore how to interpret and translate the actions of another species while resisting anthropomorphic descriptions. Through …
An Ironic Fad
Professorial Capital
Merging theory with autoethnographic reflections, the author critically explores the relationship between social class and the reproduction of inequality within the upper ranks of the academy, while reflexively and purposefully challenging traditional modes of academic discourse. Drawing from the author's experiences as a blue-collar sociology doctoral student, the concept of an academic class ceiling is elaborated. In an attempt to link everyday…
Mad Artists and Tattooed Perverts
American tattoo history confirms that definitions of deviancy are always in flux. Until the last two decades of the twentieth century, academics recognized tattooing as a semiotic representation of pathology and deviancy. Recently, tattooing was designated as a meaningful way to modify the body and a valuable cultural form. Much like the social construction of the aesthetic category of asylum art, some institutional experts are currently redrawin…
Tattoo Narratives
Drawing upon Frank's (1995) discussion of the personal and social aspects of embodied storytelling, this paper considers the tattoo as a form of visual communication created within a multiplicity of contexts. Based on in‐depth interviews with eight tattooed men and women, the focus of this article is the stories that these individuals tell about their tattoos. I argue that the tattooed body is a distinctively communicative body. It has a great de…
An Ironic Fad
Tattoo Narratives
Drawing upon Frank's (1995) discussion of the personal and social aspects of embodied storytelling, this paper considers the tattoo as a form of visual communication created within a multiplicity of contexts. Based on in‐depth interviews with eight tattooed men and women, the focus of this article is the stories that these individuals tell about their tattoos. I argue that the tattooed body is a distinctively communicative body. It has a great de…
Mad Artists and Tattooed Perverts
American tattoo history confirms that definitions of deviancy are always in flux. Until the last two decades of the twentieth century, academics recognized tattooing as a semiotic representation of pathology and deviancy. Recently, tattooing was designated as a meaningful way to modify the body and a valuable cultural form. Much like the social construction of the aesthetic category of asylum art, some institutional experts are currently redrawin…
Among the colony
As a part of a larger ethnographic study of urban beekeepers in New York City, this article considers the challenges of conducting multispecies participant observation - being in the field with both human and non-human informants, beekeepers and bees. Keeping in mind the intra-active nature of human/insect entanglements, we explore how to interpret and translate the actions of another species while resisting anthropomorphic descriptions. Through …
The Artification of Tattoo
Theorized as a Bourdieusian field, this article examines changes inside the tattoo world resulting in the valuation of certain tattoo practices as art and some actors taking 'fine art' positions within it. The category of tattoo art is distinct from tattoo because it positions the practice away from its traditional historic moorings as a lowbrow craft and occupation requiring a rudimentary level of technical skill. In contrast, tattoo art is crea…
Professorial Capital
Merging theory with autoethnographic reflections, the author critically explores the relationship between social class and the reproduction of inequality within the upper ranks of the academy, while reflexively and purposefully challenging traditional modes of academic discourse. Drawing from the author's experiences as a blue-collar sociology doctoral student, the concept of an academic class ceiling is elaborated. In an attempt to link everyday…
Bees Making Art
In many cultural fields honeybees reveal themselves as a highly generative species; one that humans have become dependent on. Within the backdrop of Colony Collapse Disorder, this essay examines how live bees are used in the production of art works. Historically, bees have been an absent presence in art as artists have relied upon bees for the raw material they create (wax, honeycomb) and for their metaphorical value. Most recently, bees themselv…
Tattoo Narratives
Drawing upon Frank's (1995) discussion of the personal and social aspects of embodied storytelling, this paper considers the tattoo as a form of visual communication created within a multiplicity of contexts. Based on in‐depth interviews with eight tattooed men and women, the focus of this article is the stories that these individuals tell about their tattoos. I argue that the tattooed body is a distinctively communicative body. It has a great de…
An Ironic Fad
Professorial Capital
Merging theory with autoethnographic reflections, the author critically explores the relationship between social class and the reproduction of inequality within the upper ranks of the academy, while reflexively and purposefully challenging traditional modes of academic discourse. Drawing from the author's experiences as a blue-collar sociology doctoral student, the concept of an academic class ceiling is elaborated. In an attempt to link everyday…
Mad Artists and Tattooed Perverts
American tattoo history confirms that definitions of deviancy are always in flux. Until the last two decades of the twentieth century, academics recognized tattooing as a semiotic representation of pathology and deviancy. Recently, tattooing was designated as a meaningful way to modify the body and a valuable cultural form. Much like the social construction of the aesthetic category of asylum art, some institutional experts are currently redrawin…
Visualising charisma
Although sociologists regard charisma as a social construct, few studies look at the explicit interactions that create and maintain this type of authority. This article examines one specific, but ubiquitous social interaction between leader and follower – the charismatic touch. The charismatic touch is a semi-formal interaction in which leader and followers exchange mutual recognition through verbal, visual and physical touch. Through touching ea…
Bees Making Art
In many cultural fields honeybees reveal themselves as a highly generative species; one that humans have become dependent on. Within the backdrop of Colony Collapse Disorder, this essay examines how live bees are used in the production of art works. Historically, bees have been an absent presence in art as artists have relied upon bees for the raw material they create (wax, honeycomb) and for their metaphorical value. Most recently, bees themselv…
The Artification of Tattoo
Theorized as a Bourdieusian field, this article examines changes inside the tattoo world resulting in the valuation of certain tattoo practices as art and some actors taking 'fine art' positions within it. The category of tattoo art is distinct from tattoo because it positions the practice away from its traditional historic moorings as a lowbrow craft and occupation requiring a rudimentary level of technical skill. In contrast, tattoo art is crea…
Among the colony
As a part of a larger ethnographic study of urban beekeepers in New York City, this article considers the challenges of conducting multispecies participant observation - being in the field with both human and non-human informants, beekeepers and bees. Keeping in mind the intra-active nature of human/insect entanglements, we explore how to interpret and translate the actions of another species while resisting anthropomorphic descriptions. Through …
Tattoos and Body Modification
Sociology (9 works) · Art (7 works) · Aesthetics (6 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Anthropology (5 works) · Political science (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · Social Psychology (5 works) · Tattoo and Body Piercing Complications (5 works) · Visual arts (5 works)