On Saturday, December 11, 1999 at 2:00pm ET (11:00am PT), Discovery Channel Online will broadcast a live webcast from the American Museum of Natural History in conjunction with the exhibition Body Art: Marks of Identity. Panelists, including exhibition curator Enid Schildkrout, Valerie Steele, chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and Noliwe Rooks, Visiting Assistant Professor in History and African American Studies at Princeton University, discuss issues of identity, ethnicity, and beauty as related to body ornamentation.

Suggested Reading for Teachers

Gröning, Karl, ed. Body Decoration: A World Survey of Body Art. New York: The Vendome Press, 1998.

Robinson, Julian. The Quest for Human Beauty: An Illustrated History. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1998.

Rubin, Arnold, ed. Marks of Civilization. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, University of California, 1988. (highly recommended)

Suggested Reading for High School Students

Camphausen, Rufus C. Return of the Tribal: Piercing, Tattooing, Body Painting, Scarification. Rochester, Vt: Park Street Press, 1997.

"Global Culture." National Geographic Magazine, vol. 196, no. 2, August 1999.

Suggested Reading for All Ages

"Decorating the Body." Faces: The Magazine About People, vol. 5, no. 2, November 1998. Peterborough, N.H.: Cobblestone Publishing.

English, Karen. Nadia's Hands. Honesdale, Pa.: Boyds Mills Press, 1999.

"Ornaments' " Faces: The Magazine About People, vol. 12, no. 4, December 1995. Peterborough, N,H.: Cobblestone Publishing.

Polhemus,Ted. Body Art: The Total Guide to Body Decoration. Boston: Element Children's Books, 1998.

Power, Vicki. Vanity: A Very Peculiar History. New York: Franklin Watts, 1995.

Internet Sites for Teachers
http://www.mariner.org/exhibits/tattoo/index.htm http://www.upenn.edu/museum/Exhibits/bodmodintro.html http://www.zelacom.com/~nyctattoo/