​Na ou i ai i Samoa mo le masina, e sailiili i le tu o tāga tatau faaSamoa ma le aafiaga o mamanu tetele e iai le pe‘a ma le malu –poo le tatau i lona tulaga lautele –i le mafai e le tino o le tagata ona tali atu i siama. Na i‘u ina ta ai loa ma la‘u pe‘a i lo‘u vae, e ui e laitiiti mamao atu.

O le vaitau lea o a‘u suesuega i nofoaga i tua, ma e atoa i ai le fa o a‘u suesuega faatino i le faiā o le tāina o le pe‘a ma le tete‘e poo le tali atu o le tino o le tagata i faama‘i poo ni siama. O la‘u sailiiliga muamua na faapitoa i se vaega to‘alaiti, e matele i tamaitai, i Alabama. O le mea na ‘ou matauina na faaataata mai ai, e mafai ona fesoasoani le taina o le pe‘a e siitia ai le mafai ona tete‘e pe le tali atu i inifeti ma siama.

Ae lē lava se suesuega itiiti se tasi i Amerika e faamaonia ai se o‘oo‘oga o le mataupu –e ui i ulutala matamata tetele o faasalalau solo ai le fo‘ia o le fulū masani i le tāina o le pe‘a. O le mea tonu e ta‘u o le faasaienisi maumaututū, o le maua lea o le tali lava e tasi, mai le lasi o suesuega, ona faauiga lea ia maua ai se malamala‘aga e faatatau i le lalolagi.
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O le mafuaaga lena na ma malaga ai ma Michaela Howells, i le matātā lava e tasi tau Su‘esu‘ega o Tagata, i motu o Samoa. E loa le talafaasolopito faifaipea o tāga tatau i Samoa. Sa faaaogā masini faaonaponei ma sa ta lima fo‘i pe‘a, ona sa matou fia iloa pe maua ai le fesootaiga lava e tasi - o le faasiliga malosi e maua e le vaega tetee siama o le tino. 

Lāgā le vaega tete‘e siama e puipui manu‘a iti mai le tāina o le pe‘a
E silia ma le 30% o tagata Amerika e ta a latou pe‘a [e o‘o mai] i le asō. E ui i lea, e laiti suesuega na faia i ni aafiaga faapaiolo e ese mai ma lamatiaga tau kanesa poo le inifeti. 

O le tāina o le pe‘a e gaosia ai se ata tumau pe a o‘o le lama (vaitusi) i pu iti ua taina i lalo ifo o le vaega pitoaluga o le p ‘u. E manatu lou tino o se manu‘a le pe‘a ma e faapenā ona tali atu i ai i ni auala se lua. 

O le gaoioiga faanatura a le tino e teena ai se faamai poo se inifeti, e aofia ai le tali masani i soo se mea fou e alia‘e. O le mea lea, o le tāina o le pe‘a, e faaosofia ai le vaega tetee faama‘i e  ‘auina atu ni sele papa‘e o le toto e ‘aina le ‘au osofa‘i, ma tete‘e atu i ai tusa pe mamate ai (sele papa‘e), a ia puipuia le tagata mai le inifeti. 

O le mafai e le vaega teesiama o le tino ona ola fetuunai, na maua ai le avanoa e fua ai le porotini imunekelopulini e maua i le fāua, ‘auā se ata faatusatusa o le tūgā e o‘o i ai pe a ta se pe‘a.

I Amerika Samoa, na ma galulue ma Howells i le ofisa Faasao o Talafaasolopito e saili ni tagata e faatino ai le suesuega, ma sa fesoasoani mai atisi ta pe‘a ia Joe Ioane mai le Off Da Rock Tattoos, Duffy Hudson mai le Tatau Manaia, ma le tufuga ta tatau ia Su‘a Tupuola Uilisone Fitiao. O tagata e to‘aluasefululima na lautogia mo le tāgā pe’a e aofia ai tagatanuu o Samoa ma turisi asiasi mai. 

​Na matou aoina faamaumauga o fāua i le amataga ma le faai‘uga o tāgā pe‘a ta‘itasi, ma faapito‘augafa suesuega na ‘o le taimi na tatā ai. Na matou fuaina fo‘i le mamafa, le ‘u‘ūmi ma le māfiafia o le ga‘o i tino o le ‘au tatā, e iloa ai le tulaga o lo latou soifua mālōlōina. Mai su‘esu‘ega o le fāua, na matou tō ‘ese mai ai le vaega tetee faama‘i A, le homoni e tutupu mai ai faalogona o le lē to‘a, atoa ai ma le porōtini-C lea e faailo mai ai ua lūgā se manu‘a. O le vaega tete‘e faama‘i A ua faatusa nei o le ulua‘i talipupuni tāua, e puipuia le tagata mai siama e pei o ituaiga e maua i le fulū masani.  

 O le faatusatusaga o tulaga o nei faailoilo tau paiolo, na matou mautinoa ai le maualuga o le vaega tetee faama‘i A i totonu o ālātoto, e o‘o lava ina ua pepē manu‘a o le pe‘a. E lē gata i lea, o i latou ua faatele ona tofo i le au o tāgā pe‘a, na tele le porotini (Imunekelopulini) tete‘e siama na maua i o latou fāua, e faaata mai ai le siitia o le malosi teesiama mo ē ua toe ta, e faatusatusa ia i latou ua faato‘ā tatā ma e le‘i o‘o lava i lea faiva. O lea aafiaga e faalagolago i le ta so‘o o le tino, ae lē na ‘o se vaitau ua mavae talu ona ta. E ono aogā lea malosi faasili mo le vaega teesiama ‘aua nisi manu‘a o le pa‘u e alia‘e mai, atoa ma le soifua mālōlōina lautele.

E foliga mai a ta le pe‘a, e mafai ona aogā lea mo le tino o le tagata.  O se molimau lena mai le ‘au suesue i le matātā faapaiolo, pe a faailoa tonu sele tetee faama‘i i molekiule e fitoitonu i ai, ona  aga‘i sa‘o lea i pōlōtini magalua ia e faamautū pea i totonu o ālātoto o le tagata i le tele o tausaga. O taimi uma e ta ai se pe‘a o le taimi fo‘i lena o loo tapena lelei ai le tino e tali fuaitau atu i se isi tāgā pe‘a e soso‘o ai.

Na māua i isi suesuega le aogā o le lē to‘a (o le tagata) mo sina vaitau puupuu, ma e penefiti ai fo‘i le vaega tetee faama‘i o le tino. O le ituaiga faalēlelei, o le ituaiga lē to‘a lea e matuā olopalaina ai le vaega teesiama ma le soifua mālōlōina o se tagata. Peita‘i e aogā sina lē to‘a ititi aua e tapena ai lou tino e tetee atu i siama. E aogā faamalositino masani mo vaega tetee faama‘i o le tino pe ‘a fai ma masani, ae lē na ‘o aso ta‘itasi e asi ai se fale toleni. Matou te manatu, e tai tutusa lea ma le tapenaina e le tatau o le tino, ina ia mātaala mo soo se faafitauli e ono tula‘i mai.

Na lagolagoina e faaiuga i Samoa a matou ulua‘i suesuega i Alabama. Ae lē faapea a felāta‘i ona faailo mai ai lea o ‘i‘ina le mafuaga tonu.

E moni e felāta‘i le ta faafia o le tino o le tagata, ma le siitia o le malosi o le vaega tetee faama‘i o le tino, ae atonu o tagata e mālōlōina atu, e pepē gofie o latou manu‘a mai le taina o pe‘a, ma latou fiafia fo‘i e ta soo o latou tino.  E faapefea ona tatou iloa ma le toto‘a o le ta so‘o o pe‘a i le tino e mafai ona mālōlōina atili ai se tagata?
 
‘O Samoa e ana le Tatau’

E i a Samoa le aganuu ta pe‘a pito i matua o loo faaauau pea i totonu o motu o le Pasefika. E ui e toatele tagata Samoa e faitio i le ta o tatau a le tupulaga ona o tifiga, ae mo le toatele o ia tupulaga, e mafua ona o le faaaloalo i o latou tupuaga ma na latou ta‘ua e faapea, o a latou tatau o se mea totino o le aganuu Samoa.  

E masani ona sailia le faatagāga a aiga pe afai e fia ta se pe‘a poo se malu. O le taina ma le la‘eiina o le tatau e aofia ai le tele o tiute tau‘ave, ma e faailoa mai ai le agaga malie e fai le faiva o le tautua i nuu ma alālafaga.

O nisi o tagata Samoa na auai i le sailiiliga, sa faailoa lo latou lē manana‘o i isi ituaiga pe‘a, o se tasi fo‘i o sui na ta‘ua lona fefe tele i nila. Na ta a latou pe‘a ona o le tāua o nei tatau ma malu i o latou faasinomaga faaleaganuu, ae le ‘ona o le fia faaalialia. O lagona masani o le lautele o Samoa i le mafuaaga e ta ai se tatau a se tagata, e lē mafuli ona o le fia fai tifiga, e faatusatusa i le taina o se pe‘a i le Iunaite Setete. O le mafuaaga lea ua avea ai Samoa ma nofoaga sili e saili i ai, pe mafua le faasiliga malosi e maua e teesiama o le tino, ona e mālōlōina lava tagata o loo tatā -i Samoa, soo se ituaiga tino ma soo se tagata e ta, mai faifeau e o ‘o i sui o le mālō.    

Ia Iulai 2019, sa aga‘i tonu suesuega eseese faapaiolo na ao, i tagata na matuā fato‘ato‘a le taina ‘o o latou tino i Apia, e pei ona faatinoina i aso taitasi i le ogatotonu o le taulaga. E 50 vaega mo suesuega o fāua na ‘ou aoina mai tagata ‘auai e to‘asefululua, ma o le a auiliili e le tagata suesue i lea matātā faapitoa ia Michael Muehlenbein, i le tausaga a sau.

O vaaiga eseese i le malaga a le pe‘a

E mafai ona avea le pe‘a ma pine faamau vaaia e ‘a‘apa i ai tagata e faailoga ai uo mālōlōina poo  ni uo tino malolosi. O ia faailo o le lava toleni o ia tagata, ua faatusa i fusi o fulu (matagofie) o le si‘usi‘u o le manulele iloga o le tuki, lea semanū e fai ma avega mamafa pe ana le malosi ma gafatia lava e lea manu ona sola ese mai ona fili. 

E oʻo lava i le siosiomaga faʻaonapo nei ma le aga'i i luma o le tausiga o le soifua mālōlōina, e ono siitia e le pe’a le malosi teesiama o le tino, e ala i le faafoliga mai ua manu’a le tino, ina ia faaalitino mai ai o loo mālōlōina. I se suʻesuʻega na ou faia i le lata i le 7,000 tagata aooga o faailoga amata, o tama afeleti mai kolisi ma iunivesite eseese, atoa ai ma tama ta‘a‘alo lakapi (Amerika), o i latou ia na tele ina ta a latou pe‘a nai lo e lē ta’aalo, ma o ia fo’i alii sa tau lē aafia i ni ma’i e afua mai le taina o se pe‘a, e faatusatusa i a i latou na ta a latou pe‘a ae le ta‘a‘alo.
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E le ‘o manino mai le lava o penefiti e maua mai le taina o se pe‘a, ina ia iai sona aafiaga iloga i le soifua mālōlōina, o le mea lea, vaai oe ne‘i e manatu e faaleaogā e le taina o se pe‘a fou lou tausami i peka-sisi ma pateta falai. E ui i lea, e lē fesiligia o le taina o le pe‘a, e feso‘otai ma le malosi (e gafatia ai fitā),  e lē gata i lena, o tatou, tagata ola, e mafai ona aafia i tatou i le vaai ma mafaufauga e pei lava o le mea moni.

https://theconversation.com/untangling-tattoos-influence-on-immune-response-121852

​We're a little behind in our updates, so a few of these are dated...but without further ado.

This summer we ran a successful crowdfunding effort to fund the first half of a second field season to study Polynesian tattooing and immune response. I attended the Northwest Tatau Festival in Seattle/Tacoma, WA, where we collected data from 52 participants.

Next step is to gather the funds to analyze the samples!

​In writing our chapter "Tattooing, Commitment, Quality, and Football in Southeastern North America" for Evolution Education in the American South, Cassie Medeiros and I hypothesized that tattoos would be more common among elite athletes to highlight their fitness or among non-athletes who were fit as an alternative way to advertise fitness (besides being an elite athlete). Our HBERG team then tested this using the Body Art Study Questionnaire (Mayers et al., 2002) via first a nationwide internet survey among undergraduates, then a survey of all 31,000+ University of Alabama undergrads. The first survey elicited around 600 responses but very few tattooed athletes among them. The repeat study elicited around 6500 responses and a full 50% of the UA intercollegiate athletes.

The article summarizing these findings, "Shirts or skins?: Tattoos as costly honest signals of fitness and affiliation among US intercollegiate athletes and other undergraduates," has been accepted by Evolutionary Psychological Science and is current in press. Several people worked on this project over the years, but the authors who ultimately pulled this together include Taylor Puckett (cleaned and set up data codebooks), Nick Roy (cleaned data, helped with analysis, and edited paper), and Mandy Guitar (developed the hypothesis we tested in Carmen et al. [2012], and edited paper). We're grateful to work done along the way by Connor Fasel, Kat Beidler, and Kira Yancey, as well as the title idea by Rob Else.

We are allowed to provide an Author's Accepted Manuscript here for preview. Our findings were consistent with the Human Canvas Hypothesis (Carmen et al., 2012), an evolutionary hypothesis that suggests tattoos advertise fitness or affiliation:

• Among men, intercollegiate athletes were more likely to be tattooed, but among women, non-athletes were more likely
• Intercollegiate athletes were more likely to have college- or pro sports-related tattoos

Our findings were also consistent with the evolutionary Upping the Ante Hypothesis, that tattooing raises the health stakes in a high hygiene environment by injuring the body to show how well it heals:

• Tattooing is positively associated with BMI
• BMI is positive associated with tattoo-related complications
• This association was greater among non-intercollegiate athletes, suggesting a costly honest signaling effect.

To learn more, read our AAM here.