Reporation Case Study

Through out history, colonialism has robbed many cultures of their heritage by stealing objects and claiming them as their own. While this has occurred for centuries, one of the most infamous examples of a culture stealing and refusing to return an object. The British Museum still holds not just an object, but the remains of the Torres are on display. (Shariatmadari, 2019) While there were talks of returning the remains to their country of origin in 2012, I could not find any information confirming the return of their dead ancestor. (Request for Repatriation of Human Remains to the Torres Strait Islands, Australia | British Museum, n.d.) Keeping a human on display is an odd unintentional display of ethnology-science, implying the biology of humans living in the Torres are different to the rest of the world. Using the remains of an evolving human is one thing, but keeping a homo sapien there yields no scientific results. 


 

Here's an idea of how far apart the two areas are as there are complications moving any artifact from a museum. What would be the safest way to move something as fragile as ancient human bones? Placing them in an enforced foam case and placing them on a boat would probably best. Another concern is that the Torres people will not know how to care for the human bones. Though the best way to care for any body, is to bury it, as these bones hold no real value to the museum. Keeping the bones of human evolution ancestors is understandable, as there are unfortunately no other humans left aside from the homo sapiens that crawl the planet. Where would the bones of a homo erectus go?  

Museums usually do not display the bodies of homo sapiens without the persons consent as was the case with Grover Krantz, who donated his body to the Smithsonian along with his dog  (Caputo, 2009). Keeping the remains of a human who did not voluntarily donate themselves, is particularly odd.

 

Caputo, J. (2009, February 11). Grover Krantz Donated His Body to Science, On One Condition...  | At the Smithsonian      | Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian Magazine; Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/grover-krantz-donated-his-body-to-science-on-one-condition-38726179/?no-ist

Request for Repatriation of Human Remains to the Torres Strait Islands, Australia | British Museum. (n.d.). The British Museum. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://www.britishmuseum.org/our-work/departments/human-remains/request-repatriation-human-remains-torres-strait-islands

Shariatmadari, D. (2019, April 23). ‘They’re not property’: the people who want their ancestors back from British museums | Museums | The Guardian. The Guardian; The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/apr/23/theyre-not-property-the-people-who-want-their-ancestors-back-from-british-museums

  

Comments

  1. daniceOctober 26, 2020 at 12:18 PM

    Hi Nate,
    I really enjoyed your post! I am also doing a study of repatriation of human remains from New Zealand and Australia. I am considering focusing more on New Zealand for the bulk of my blog posting on Thursday. Are you going to focus more on the Torres Strait Islands of Australia? I just wanted to touch base with you since we are doing similar case studies. I think what you have so far is interesting, such as the transportation of the remains and the fact that they have no monetary value. If you read this before Thursday let me know your main country of interest. Thanks! Danice

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