ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the cultural history of Naga tattoo through the voices of Naga elders, a contemporary Naga tattoo artist, Naga writers, among others. One hundred years ago, tattoo was considered everyday wear with a precise and detailed system of codes and socio- religious meanings attached to it. Post-missionization tattoo was demonized, condemned, and gradually abandoned until the last decade with the re-emergence of an ethnic fashion and cultural revival movement that includes the neo-Naga tattoo. This chapter demonstrates that Naga artists and writers are actively reshaping the future of Naga tattoo through art, design, and innovative publications. They give new expression to an inerasable and unquestionable mark of ethnic identity, and in the process may revive the Naga tattoo from the brink of extinction.
