Memorie di sé. Il tatuaggio come strumento della narrazione identitaria giovanile

Nowadays consumption dynamics analysis is carving out a growing important role within the reflection on youth condition. Consumption choices play a basic role within the identity building process, as well within the mechanisms of social interaction, and gain credit as a further medium for relationships and sharing. The paper aims to analyze the meaning of a specific consumption experience, that one of tattoos, more and more widespread among the new generations. In the article, we’ll analyze, in particular, the results of a qualitative research project carried out on a Millennials sample, young people born between 1981 and 1996, in order to pick out the reasons which in most cases drive them to tattooing. The elements we collected by means of some focus groups and semi-structured interviews have stressed a double reading: for one part of the sample, the meaning of tattoo has to be spotted just in the right drawing chosen by the individual, while for another it’s tattooing itself, the experience lived in real terms, to take the prevailing meaning, sometimes even regardless of the figure inked onto the skin. When tattoo reflects the will to expressly convey something, its meaning seems to be traced back to three different purposes: the one bound to one’ identity, the one peculiar to a rite of initiation and the one that points out an emotional bond. In conclusion, for the Millennials choosing tattooing seems to be a way of claiming their own individuality tangibly, changing their body into one of the means thanks to which they can tell the others their own story.