The journey starts

Today, the 31st of January 2016 is the day. My journy to New Zeeland will start on this very day. While I am now still at home writing this, I will depart from home at 9:30 a.m. with my mother Carla and my boyfriend Marc, who will drop me off at the Düsseldorf airport only to see me again after about three months. If everything goes the way it's supposed to go, I will be arriving via Dubai and Auckland at the second of February at 17:25 p.m. local time in Rotorua, where I will be picked up from the airport by my New Zealand host Karin.

I will try and explain to you guys in short what it is exactly what I will be doing. To be able to complete my Master Programme of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Nijmegen, I need to conduct a research completely on my own. Stating the obvious, my research will take place in Rotorua, New Zealand. The research will be conducted on the subject of Maori tattoos in the tourism branch. In my surroundings I have heard from certain people that they have been to New Zealand and have come back with a, what they call, traditional Maori tattoo, a so called moko. According to Rua (1999, 2) these moko used to have a tapu (sacred) status within the Maori culture because moko are often placed on the face, involve the shedding of Maori blood and have special meaning for the Maori since they form a reflection of their personal and familial history. According to Rua et al. (1999, 479) getting moko required a Maori to gain prestige by certain accomplishments that took year to complete, which made getting moko not only a tapu but a long process as well. However, something about this traditional meaning seems to have changed, since moko have now been made available to be bought tourists, which in turn leads to believe that the demand amongst tourists for these moko is at a level that allows Maori to create the opportunity for tourists to get a moko. This leads to multiple questions. First of all, what has changed about the Maori meaning of the moko? Secondly, how come the demand for moko amongst tourists is present? And thirdly, if the meaning of these moko has changed, can we still call these tattoos traditional, which creates thus a question of authenticity?

The situation described above creates a lot of question in the mind. However, three months is not even nearly enough to get a proper answer to all these questions. Therefore I had to find a focus. I chose to look at the tourist side in this situation. What is it that moves those tourists to get a Maori tattoo? My research will thus evolve around the question: ‘For what reason do tourists get ‘traditional’ Maori tattoos and what meaning do they give to them?’. This question will be divided into several sub question, namely: ‘What reasons do people have in general to get a tattoo?’, ‘What meaning do the tourists give to the process of putting the tattoo on the body?’, ‘What aspects of the moko do tourists find important when getting a moko?’, ‘What do the tourists experience before, during and after the process of getting a Maori tattoo?’ and ‘What symbols and symbolism is used within the tattoos for the tourists?’.

Besides conducting my research, I will of course also visit some touristic places! Via this blog I will keep you guys posted on the progression of my research, my own whereabouts and thing that I experience! I hope some of you will actually take a moment to read it and if you have any question feel free to ask!