'Under My Skin:' Tattoos and Religion
Gustavo Morello, S.J.
Boston College
Date: Thursday, February 6, 2025
Time: 12 - 1pm
Location: 24 Quincy Road, Conference Room
Are tattoos legitimate religious practices? Are they “real” religion? For many humans throughout history, from members of Gen Z to those of the distant past, tattoos have been a way to connect with the supernatural. In this talk, he will explore the connections between tattoos and religion, their conflictive history, and their thriving present. Ultimately Morello will argue that tattoos may help us better understand our religious world.
Gustavo Morello, S.J., is a Jesuit priest and professor of sociology at Boston College. He was the principal investigator of the research project ‘The Transformation of Lived Religion in Urban Latin America: A Study of Contemporary Latin Americans’ Experience of the Transcendent" (2015-2018), and delivered the D’Arcy Lectures at Campion Hall at the University of Oxford, UK (2019). Morello studies the Latin American religious landscape, exploring how modernity affects people’s religious practices. His latest book is Religion in Latin America: An Enchanted Modernity (OUP, 2021).
Barras, Amélie, and Anne Saris. “Gazing into the World of Tattoos: An Invitation to Reconsider How We Conceptualize Religious Practices.” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 50, no. 2 (2021): 167-88. http://doi.org/10.1177/0008429820926988.
Hambly, Wilfrid Dyson. The History of Tattooing. Chelmsford, MA: Courier Corporation, 2009.
Ibarra, Carlos S. “Beards, Tattoos, and Cool Kids: Lived Religion and Postdenominational Congregations in Northwestern Mexico.” International Journal of Latin American Religions 5, (2021): 76-103. http://doi.org/10.1007/s41603-021-00133-7.
Maloney, Patricia, and Jerome Koch. “The College Student’s Religious Tattoo: Respect, Reverence, Remembrance.” Sociological Focus 53, no. 1 (2020): 53–66. http://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2019.1703863.
Morello SJ, Gustavo, Mikayla Sanchez, Diego Moreno, Jack Engelmann, and Alexis Evangel. “Women, Tattoos, and Religion: An Exploration into Women’s Inner Life.” Religions 12, no. 7 (2021): 517. http://doi.org/10.3390/rel12070517.
Pagliarini, Marie A. “Spiritual Tattooing: Pain, Materialization, and Transformation.” Journal of Religion and Violence 3, no. 2 (2015): 189–212. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26671461.
Rush, John A. Spiritual Tattoo: A Cultural History of Tattooing, Piercing, Scarification, Branding, and Implants. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Publishing, 2005.
Timming, Andrew R., and David Perrett. “Trust and Mixed Signals: A Study of Religion, Tattoos, and Cognitive Dissonance.” Personality and Individual Differences 97, (2016): 234-8. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.03.067.
Professor Gustavo Morello of the sociology department at Boston College has made a mark through his research on the relationship between tattoos and religion. The Jesuit scholar recently published an article in America Magazine that details how tattoos serve as a religious experience for a variety of people. He notes that the rate of adults with at least one tattoo in the United States has significantly increased in the past five years, and religious symbolism contributes to this. Morello explains the complex historical context that has shaped the modern expression of tattoos. Native Americans such as the Mohawks and Mohicans have embraced religious tattoos for centuries, and modern day Ethiopian and Coptic Christians still tattoo the inside of their wrists with a cross. Morello argues that the process of getting a tattoo is religious; the period of discernment on the image and artist, the permanence, and the penitential-like pain form a type of spiritual journey, regardless of the tattoo itself. Morello concludes the article by emphasizing that these factors allow for a popular religious experience with which the growing unaffiliated population can engage.
Photo credits: Christopher Soldt, MTS