ROLAND BARTHES' STRUCTURALIST SEMIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS: KAYAN DAYAK TRIBAL HAND TATTOO

Abstract

Tattoo tradition and the Kayan Dayak tribe are two things that unity. Tattoos are a tradition that has been around for a long time. Unfortunately, their existence is almost extinct. Tattoo as an activity of painting the body has a complex symbolic meaning also a personal interpretation for the owner. Tattoos are essentially necessary for the Dayak tribe because they become a symbol or identity. This study will examine the meaning of tattoos in the Dayak tribe, especially on the hands in the role of a form of nonverbal language communication using Roland Barthes’ semiology structuralist analysis as a framework that restates the organization of symbols in a cultural system with a process of calculating significance in a structured arrangement. Sign interpretation by Roland Barthes is according to a review of the marking process at the denotation level as a general meaning or true meaning and the connotation level as a special meaning or hidden meaning. A tattoo's complexity conveys a nonverbal message about social status. The hand tattoo also implies that the hand is a part of the body as the centre of life. The hand tattoo represented a person's life journey, delivers stories of life through visual communication.