Corporeal Colonialism and Corporal Punishment: A Cross-cultural Perspective on Body Modification

Abstract

This article addresses the re–marking of corporeal surfaces and subjectivities under colonialism using a cross-cultural perspective. It provides, in part, a historical perspective on the interest in intentional body modification in the west today. Its focus is on the attempted remoulding of indigenous bodies in Burma under (British) colonial rule and in Australia as a British colony and independent settler colony, with attention, in particular, to skin and the reinscribing of corporeal surfaces. In the colonial context, skin—an unstable surface marking the boundary of the body—is a uniquely important locus for social and political activity.