Jonatan Kurzwelly has co-edited the volume Changing Ethics of Human Remains together with Regina F. Bendix. The volume has been published by Göttingen University Press and is now available online.
The book focuses on the treatment of human remains in academic institutions and collections. It addresses the ethical questions that arise from colonial histories of injustice, contested scientific practices, provenance research and restitution processes. It also examines the changing understanding of human remains: from scientific collection objects to persons whose dignity, history and relationships with descendants are being newly recognised.
The volume explores these questions from different theoretical perspectives and through international case studies. The contributions examine, among other things, how legal, cultural and diplomatic practices in dealing with human remains are changing. They also address the responsibility of academic disciplines and institutions, as well as the ethical challenges involved in the preservation, study and possible return of such remains.
The volume brings together authors from different disciplinary and institutional contexts. Individual contributions address, among other topics, the ontology and ethics of human remains in institutional collections, Indigenous Diplomacy and questions of sovereignty, repatriation processes from Germany, and ethical questions surrounding research and museum practices related to human remains.
The volume will be presented as part of an online event on 26 June at 11:00 a.m. CET. The programme includes contributions by Prof. Regina F. Bendix, Dr Jonatan Kurzwelly, Dr Te Herekiekie Herewini and Dr Richard Hölzl, followed by a Q&A session.