Human remains in society

Human remains and society presents a groundbreaking account of the treatment and commemoration of dead bodies resulting from incidents of genocide and mass violence. Whether reburied, concealed, stored, abandoned or publically displayed, human remains raise a vast number of questions regarding social, legal and ethical uses by communities, public institutions and civil society organisations.

Through a diverse range of international case studies, across multiple continents, this highly innovative book explores the effect of dead bodies or body parts, either desired or unintended, on various political, cultural or religious practices. How, for instance, do issues of confiscation, concealment or the destruction of human remains in mass crime impact on transitional processes, commemoration or judicial procedures?

Multidisciplinary in scopeHuman remains and society will appeal to readers interested in the crucial phase of post-conflict reconciliation. This includes students and researchers of history, anthropology, sociology, archaeology, law, politics and modern warfare.

Pioneering anthology that examines the practices regarding human remains in post-conflict societies, using a unique set of case studies that span multiple disciplines and geographic areas.

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license.Human remains and society presents a groundbreaking account of the treatment and commemoration of dead bodies resulting from incidents of genocide and mass violence. Whether reburied, concealed, stored, abandoned or publically displayed, human remains raise a vast number of questions regarding social, legal and ethical uses by communities, public institutions and civil society organisations. Through a diverse range of international case studies, across multiple continents, this highly innovative book explores the effect of dead bodies or body parts, either desired or unintended, on various political, cultural or religious practices. How, for instance, do issues of confiscation, concealment or the destruction of human remains in mass crime impact on transitional processes, commemoration or judicial procedures? Multidisciplinary in scopeHuman remains and society will appeal to readers interested in the crucial phase of post-conflict reconciliation. This includes students and researchers of history, anthropology, sociology, archaeology, law, politics and modern warfare.

Introduction: corpses in society: about human remains, necro-politics, necro-economy and the legacy of mass violence: Élisabeth Anstett and Jean-Marc Dreyfus 1 The unburied victims of Kenya's Mau Mau Rebellion: where and when does the violence end? - David M. Anderson and Paul J. Lane 2 (Re)politicising the dead in post-Holocaust Poland: the afterlives of human remains at the Belzec extermination camp - Zuzanna Dziuban 3 Chained corpses: warfare, politics and religion after the Habsburg Empire in the Julian March, 1930s-70s - Gaetano Dato 4 Exhumations in post-war rabbinical responsas - David Deutsch 5 (Re)cognising the corpse: individuality, identification and multidirectional memorialisation in post-genocide Rwanda - Ayala Maurer-Prager 6 Corpses of atonement: the discovery, commemoration and reinternment of eleven Alsatian victims of Nazi Terror, 1947-1952 - Devlin M. Scofield 7 'Earth conceal not my blood': forensic and archaeological approaches to locating the remains of Holocaust victims - Caroline Sturdy Colls 8 The return of Herero and Nama bones from Germany: the victims' struggle for recognition and recurring genocide memories in Namibia - Vilho Amukwaya Shigwedha 9 A Beothuk skeleton (not) in a glass case: rumours of bones and the remembrance of an exterminated people in Newfoundland - John Harries Index