Body Modification

Abstract Body modifications are intimately associated with the self-constitution of humans in social groups. The documented history of body modifications almost certainly postdates the beginning of the practices involved, which might have employed more perishable materials and less clearly specialized tools. This chapter explores the ways body modifications work to create distinctive, literally marked, forms of human subjectivity, including age and gender distinctions. Drawing on the rich history of body modification in Mesoamerica, the way that body modifications are elevated in significance through ritualization, and the consequent semiotic power gained by body modifications, is proposed as part of a general framework for thinking through body modification.