My tattoo talks about my soul!: the representation of the collective identity of a group of vegans and vegetarians

• Grant number: 15/09854-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: August 28, 2015
• End date: December 09, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Administration - Business Administration
• Principal Investigator: Tania Modesto Veludo de Oliveira
• Grantee: Renata Andreoni Barboza
• Supervisor: Russell W. Belk
• Host Institution: Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (EAESP). Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: York University, Canada
• Associated to the scholarship: 14/06250-1 - An ethnographic study of the consumption resistance movement of vegetarians, BP.DR

Abstract

The vegetarian movement is a new social movement based in lifestyle and cultural change. New social movements hold a strong emphasis on collective identity and social networks as a means to sustain participation. This research explores how vegans and vegetarians create a collective identity with their tattoos, trying to explore the meaning associated with its consumption and the consumers’ motivations for getting a vegan or vegetarian tattoo, observing how this kind of consumption helps define themselves in opposition to mainstream society. From being considered a marginal and sometimes deviant behavior, the consumption of tattoos has become a mass consumer phenomenon (Kjeldgaard & Bengtsson, 2005). As tattoos have gained in popularity, it can be expected that the reasons for why people get tattoos have shifted as well. Research with interpretive, qualitative approach, using ethnographic interviews and photographs is being held. In addition, a videography is been performed. I will interpret the data design in the light of the main concepts of the theory of new social movements. As a form of data analysis critical discourse analysis will be used. (AU)