Anthropology, mass graves and the politics of the dead

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• Constantine Eliopoulos (Liverpool John Moores University)
• Wednesday 07 February 2018, 16:30-17:30
• Seminar Room, Henry Wellcome Building, Division of Biological Anthropology, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QG.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Michael Rivera.

In the past few decades, anthropologists, among other experts, have been called to assist in the investigation of mass graves by conducting exhumations, anthropological examinations and identifications of human skeletal remains. The reasons for this choice of specialists are several: anthropologists are trained in methods of grave location, archaeological excavation and identification by constructing the biological profile of the exhumed remains. In recent years, DNA analyses have been employed to verify the anthropological findings, bringing into the picture yet another scientific specialisation. The use of anthropologists in the investigation of mass graves started in Argentina in the mid-1980s and it has since become common in similar situations. When an international organisation such as the United Nations or even a government decide to investigate a mass grave, this can be for either legal or humanitarian purposes. In the legal context, the focus is to bring those responsible to justice, while in the humanitarian the main goal is to identify the remains and return them to their families for a proper burial according to local customs. The involvement of experts who employ scientific techniques in these investigations, is aimed at providing the objectivity and impartiality required in this context. But are the investigations always objective?

This talk is part of the Biological Anthropology Seminar Series series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• All Biological Anthropology Seminars and Events
• Biological Anthropology Seminar Series
• Centre for Health Leadership and Enterprise
• Neurons, Fake News, DNA and your iPhone: The Mathematics of Information
• Seminar Room, Henry Wellcome Building, Division of Biological Anthropology, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QG
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