As “Research
Publication” this is aimed at a scholarly / professional audience
rather than the general reader.
The preface sates
that “The motivation for publishing this book is to emphasize that
for a museum of any size, it is important to separate out issues of
repatriation or display from those of conservation, documentation and
research in relation to human remains.”
The various chapters
give a good coverage of “what to do” in terms of professional
practice but I guess I was expecting a stronger engagement in the
“why”.
This is touched only
a little in Jody Joy’s chapter on bog bodies in the exploration of
the difference between them and skeletons – but while there might
be an instinctive emotional response to a body that is distinct to
bones alone whether this should be carried over to an actual
difference is treatment could have been explored more fully.
In the same chapter
it is noted that surveys show that the overwhelming majority of
visitors to the British Museum expect, and want, to see human remains
on display. But how to display various types of human remains in ways
the encourage a respectful encourage with them is a key challenge
(perhaps even more so in the age of the selfie – is it ok to take a
selfie with a skeleton, mummy, a bog body?).
For some of the more
recent remains, especially those collected with colonial contexts,
there is likely to be cultural continuity between the individuals
whose remains the Museum holds and living communities and there is
some exploration about how the values and wishes of those communities
are incorporated into the way the remains are stored, displayed, and
studied, including in some cases the decisions to “repatriate”
the remains to communities. But beyond these examples there seemed
to be little or no engagement with how the beliefs and values of the
individuals whose remains the Museum holds might impact its practice,
and the older the remains are the less of a factor this seems to
become. There are some generalised notions of “respect”, of not
objectifying the remains (but I am not sure how successful that is in
reality), but are these enough?
Given the immense
scientific and cultural value the study of human remains holds, it is
absolutely right that Museum and other institutions have and make use
of them, and this book is a welcome insight into the engagement with
the challenges that bring, and maybe some of the philosophical
questions I have pointed to above are outside its brief but I think
they need to be wrestled with.
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