Shannon,
Your reading rings pretty true, as far as the dogtags go. (And to those
fellow vets who chimed in here:Welcome home!). I still prefer to examine
context in as much detail as possible, on a case by case basis. Questions
I would ask about your Dad and his dog tags, for instance:
 
Did he wear them publically (visibly)? Or tucked quietly inside his shirt.
Did he display them while in a business suit? Or in the dress we have come
to identify with the out-of-the-closet Vietnam Vet (fatigue jackets,
unit insignias, etc)? Did he and his fellow-vet friends all do this, and
could it have been an emblem of solidarity within their small group? Given
the public's frequent perception of V-Vets as crazies, were the tags a
kind of in your face "F**k You!" to "civilians?"
 
I could go on. What I'm trying to say is that context is everything. There
is nothing outside the text (if I may steal a phrase). To seek universal
meanings in individual acts is dicey at best. When those acts take on
dimensions of group behavior or signification, well then maybe...
 
Now, as to pierced coins/tokens in certain contexts of ethnicity, time
period, gender, etc. I still think there needs to be detailed exploration
of *individual* cases before we can be confident about interpreting a
class of events. It would be straightforward enough to give a few lines
about the "meaning" of wearing a crucifix, but what it means on the rosary
of a particular nun in a cloistered convent may be quite different from
that same crucifix hung through the earlobe of a Hawg-ridin dude in colors
on a saturday cruise with his mates.
 
I don't mean to go on and on. I like your interpretation of the tags
because I believe you understand the contexts of your Dad's life and have
insights into what they meant for him. perhaps for his circle of friends.
We need to develop nearly that intimate a knowledge of individuals or
small groups in specific contexts of the past before we can feel secure in
our interpretations of their material culture. And that's why I try to
keep my interpretations confined to meanings of THIS coin in THIS site,
and not about pierced coins in general, or for a group of people found
over half the globe and several centuries.
 
 
But all the ideas that have cropped up here have been good ones, and
apprpriate ones. Now, anyone want to go get some data? <G>
 
Take care,
 
Dan
For those who are interested in my archaeology, my dog, or my relation to
the Vietnam War and the 60s in general, please visit my web site at:
http://www.freedomnet.com/~dmouer/homepage.htm
 
****************************************************************
 
 
On Mon, 2 Jun 1997, Shannon Dawdy wrote:
 
> Wow, Dan - everything comes full circle.  I respect your interpretation of the
> dog tags as an "informant" but I was also wondering if maybe they were a
> form of scarification symbol (for those that didn't lose a limb).  To symboliz
e
> the inner wounds that outsiders don't see.  More psychological than
> Marxist, but if there's any truth to this interpretation, perhaps on occassion
> those old plantation tokens could have served the same function.  A sign
> to society that they belong to a particular "survivors" group.
>
> -- Shannon
>