For my purposes, the vital part of the book will be its discussion on accents, and why some people seem to retain them while others can modify them easily.

MORE:
Discussion on The Language Instinct from Harvard


Victoria Pitts, In the Flesh: The Cultural Politics of Body Modification (2003)
An honest and candid look at the rise of extreme forms of body modification that took place during the 1990's. Pitts discusses everything from tattooing, branding and scarification, to subdermal implants and flesh hanging. Her book not only explores cultural implications, but also seeks to connect body modifications to questions of sex and gender, and the search for identity.

MORE:
Victoria Pitts homepage


Herbert Blumer, Symbolic Interaction: Perspective and Method (1986)
Blumer concentrates on the importance of interaction in the creation of meanings of individuals. Or in other words, you are who you surround yourself with. Blumer breaks it down into three main categories: meaning, language and thought.

Meaning, Blumer believed, is the core principle to human behavior, and determines how we act towards people or things.Language offers us symbols by which we can negotiate meaning, and thought allows us to individually interpret such symbols. Blumer was heavily influenced by both Goffman and George H. Mead.

MORE:
Concise Explanation of Blumer's Ideas from the U. of Colorado
Herbert Blumer- Wikipedia
More Explanation on Blumer (and Goffman) from U. of Regina, Canada


Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1943)
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life was Goffman's most important contribution to sociology. His investigation relies on theatre as vehicle for an extended metaphor to discuss self-presentation, or an individual's "performance." Performances, for Goffman's study, are defined through face-to-face interaction and rely upon a performer making certain requests of his audience, namely that they believe what he is performing. Social interaction, therefore, is key in defining one's performance. Goffman writes, "To stay in one's room away from the place where the party is given, or away from where the practitioner attends his client, is to stay away from where reality is being performed" (36).

This book will serve as the foundation for much of my Portfolio project.

MORE:
Notes on Goffman from Duke University's Sociology Dept.
More on Goffman from UCLA
A short Goffman Bio from Brandeis
More on Presentation of Self


Judith Butler, Gender Trouble (1990)
Just when you thought it was safe to live in a binary world of genders...

Judith Butler comes along to shake everything up. While often confusing, Butler's work will mainly serve to illustrate the sliding scale and disconnectedness between gender, sexuality and physical anatomy; and the effects such independent variables have on a stranger's perception of another individual.

MORE:
Don't get it? This should help.
More Info. on Butler and Gender Trouble from U. of Colorado
Excerpts from a Butler interview (1993)
Butler's department at U. of Berkeley


V. Vale and Andrea Juno, Modern primitives: tattoo, piercing, scarification (1989)
This book features a series of interviews and photographs of individuals who practice extreme forms of body modification. It is "an investigation of contemporary adornment & ritual." Hard to get a hold of and at times difficult to stomach, it will serve as a starting point for articles on body modification.

Please note: If you're squeamish or easily offended, don't visit the websites listed below. Some contain graphic images.

MORE:
BMEzine Encyclopedia- the ultimate website on all things modification
Modern Primitive- from Wikipedia
BME zine: interviews, photos and all types of info. on body modification
A great FAQ page on scarification, branding, tattoos, piercings (and yes, it's targeted at parents)
The Antisocial Skin, by Daniel Rosenblatt- an awesome JSTOR article on modern primitives and resistance in the US


Erving Goffman, Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior (1967)
Goffman attempts to expose all that is at stake when individuals meet face-to-face. These essays concentrate on our (often sub-conscious) action/ reaction behavior when confronting other individuals; and the modifications we make in attempt to manipulate others "readings" of ourselves.