Contesting Human Remains in Museum Collections

The Crisis of Cultural Authority

Tiffany Jenkins

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Hardback

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English

Routledge
21 October 2010

Museums & museology; Society & culture: general; Cultural studies

Series: Routledge Research in Museum Studies

Since the late 1970s human remains in museum collections have been subject to claims and controversies, such as demands for repatriation by indigenous groups who suffered under colonization. These requests have been strongly contested by scientists who research the material and consider it unique evidence.

This book charts the influences at play on the contestation over human remains and examines the construction of this problem from a cultural perspective. It shows that claims on dead bodies are not confined to once colonized groups. A group of British Pagans, Honouring the Ancient Dead, formed to make claims on skeletons from the British Isles, and ancient human remains, bog bodies and Egyptian mummies, which have not been requested by any group, have become the focus of campaigns initiated by members of the profession, at times removed from display in the name of respect.

By drawing on empirical research including extensive interviews with the claims-making groups, ethnographic work, document, media, and policy analysis, Contesting Human Remains in Museum Collections demonstrates that strong internal influences do in fact exist. The only book to examine the construction of contestation over human remains from a sociological perspective, it advances an emerging area of academic research, setting the terms of debate, synthesizing disparate ideas, and making sense of a broader cultural focus on dead bodies in the contemporary period.

By: Tiffany Jenkins
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 15mm
Weight: 500g
ISBN: 9780415879606
ISBN 10: 0415879604
Series: Routledge Research in Museum Studies
Pages: 174
Publication Date: 21 October 2010
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Dr Tiffany Jenkins is arts and society director of the London based think-tank, the Institute of Ideas. She is a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and a member of the Working Group on Cultural Property and Heritage Law. She writes and comments for the national media on cultural matters.

Reviews for Contesting Human Remains in Museum Collections: The Crisis of Cultural Authority

'This is an excellent and detailed introduction to an important topic in the museum field today.' -- Annette Rein, ICOM News 'Fluent and well-argued' -- Minerva