Cynthia Porter, assistant professor of German at The Ohio State University, will give a keynote lecture in celebration of the annual induction ceremony of Delta Phi Alpha National German Honor Society from 5-6 p.m. Monday, March 17, in Kimpel Hall 310.

Porter will offer insights from her book, titled Tattoos in 20th Century German Culture: A Media History, in which she investigates the multimodal tattoo as a tool for the investigation of social considerations of bodily value on the fronts of gender, race and capital. Porter's talk, titled "Skin as a Cultural Medium in 20th Century German History," will explore the role of tattoos and their relationship to the body.

Porter is developing a media history of tattoo by breaking it down to what she argues are its fundamental parts: visual art, written text and the moving image. A couple of her guiding questions: What negotiations of the body are visible on its surface, when complexion is not the traditionally employed option used in violent, targeted efforts of racialization? What opportunities for cultural analysis are presented through forms of body modification — specifically, tattoo?

Focusing on key moments in 20th-century German history — World War I, the Holocaust and the rise of the Digital Era — Porter argues that tattoos participated in power negotiations linking the body with identity, signifying both violence and resilience, and functioned as a transactional medium. Her research analyzes tattoo as an opportunity to gain understanding in ways the practice engages in cultural negotiation and value-designation to the body. For her lecture, Porter focuses on the skin as a site where identity formation, negotiation and reinterpretation have served to instigate and substantiate claims tied to belonging. She will also discuss how social appraisals of the body are influenced by cultural interventions, particularly under conditions of oppression and subjugation.

This talk is open to the public and sponsored by the German section in the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures and Delta Phi Alpha.