SELECTED ABSTRACTS FROM THE BOTSWANA WORKSHOP- MARCH 11-12TH 2019
Remembering and Respecting Tshū!Kō and !Kai: Namibian Practices and Policy
Regarding the Return of Ancestral Remains – Dr Alma Nankela
(National Heritage Council) & Dr Jeremy Silvester (Museums Association
of Namibia)
Namibia has recently experienced three high and low profile returns of human remains from German museums. The first highly publicized returns took place in 2011 and 2018 and a lower-profile return in 2014. Our paper will reflect on the contentious politics of repatriation and the guidelines and principles that informed these returns. The paper will reflect on the ways in which these might inform the development of policy and establish precedents for the repatriation of Namibian remains from South Africa. The aim will be to inform the development of a National Policy on the Repatriation of Human Remains and Associated Heritage Objects in Namibia. The paper will then highlight the challenges of negotiating the role of descendant communities within the context of existing institutional frameworks.
Collaborations of First Nations and Scientists: a Canadian Perspective
By: Dr. Susan Pfeiffer (University of Toronto)
Each province of Canada has strong heritage legislation, but issues regarding the management of curated human remains are handled through negotiated agreements. Descendants and scientists can work together and learn about the lives of the ancestors. Descendants allowed one tooth per person to be retained from 1700 ancestral Huron-Wendat skeletons, reburied in 2013. Projects using
these tissue samples must address descendants’ priorities and must involve them. There have been discoveries about ancestral diets, child care, diseases, mobility and DNA of ancestral communities. In ongoing discussions about repatriation, descendants are asked if they wish to have such samples retained.
Homecoming: A Scottish Museum’s Perspectives on Repatriation
By: Dr. Patricia Allan (Curator, Glasgow Museums)
Ancestral remains and sacred artefacts are held in thousands of museum collections across the world, the result of more than three centuries of collecting and scientific study. In recent years, museums have found themselves at the centre of controversy over collecting, displaying and
storing human remains. Moral and ethical considerations mean that museums have a duty of care to treat ancestral remains and associated issues, including repatriation, with care and sensitivity. This presentation will look at Glasgow Museums’ practical and ethical approach to the care of ancestral remains in its collections, and to issues regarding repatriation, particularly provenance.
A Brief Overview on Policy and Legislation on Human Remain Management in Zambia
By: Maggie Katongo
Since Zambia has no direct policy and legislation on human remains management. The presentation is going to focus its attention on institutions that have been mandated to deal will human remains management in Zambia. The presentation will look at the issues that have been addressed by these institutions regarding human remains and those not addressed and efforts these institutions are making regarding human remains management. Last but not the least, the challenges faced by these institutions. Lastly, it will look at the importance of policy and legislation on human remains management to Zambia.
Exhumation of liberation war remains in Zimbabwe and Community
Perceptions.
By: Dr.Njabalo Chapangura (Archaeology Curator, Mutare Museum)
In this paper, I am going to speak on how National Museums & Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) has of late conducted the exhumation of human remains in mass graves of the liberation war struggle (1972-1979). I will use examples drawn from three exhumations projects that I participated in as an archaeologist in Eastern Zimbabwe between 2013 and 2015. Ironically, these exhumations have been contested and regarded by the community as despicable and a sign of disrespecting the dead. The collecting of material culture from the mass graves by archaeologists for further analysis at the museum was viewed as unethical act of ‘robbing’ the dead. Sharing this part of contested histories of collecting the mosaics of the liberation struggle will allow me to reflect upon some of the ethical considerations involved in collecting human remains.
Overcoming Inherited Legacies
By: Rooksana Omar (CEO Iziko Museums)
The Iziko Museums of South Africa based in Cape Town has a Physical Anthropology collection of the physical remains of ±1400 people. The staff began collecting human remains from 1872 and added to this collection over the years. ‘The collection’s history follows closely that of imperial, colonial, apartheid and post-Apartheid science conducted in southern Africa”. In 2005 the Iziko Museums proactively crafted a policy on Human Remains which focused on the care and return of the 150 unethically collected human remains. The purpose of this presentation is to discuss the Iziko Museums policy on Human Remains.
Shedding Light on Dark Memories
By: Annelize Kotze
Museums need to bring to light the dark past of the unethical collections of the human remains of indigenous people, an inherited legacy which haunts these institutions to this day. What was thought of to be for the benefit of science in the past, have been exposed as atrocities. It is the responsibility of museums to reveal the strides they are taking to see the spirits of the men, women and children previously housed as museum objects, liberated from storage boxes, and returned from where they were taken.
Regarding the Return of Ancestral Remains – Dr Alma Nankela
(National Heritage Council) & Dr Jeremy Silvester (Museums Association
of Namibia)
Namibia has recently experienced three high and low profile returns of human remains from German museums. The first highly publicized returns took place in 2011 and 2018 and a lower-profile return in 2014. Our paper will reflect on the contentious politics of repatriation and the guidelines and principles that informed these returns. The paper will reflect on the ways in which these might inform the development of policy and establish precedents for the repatriation of Namibian remains from South Africa. The aim will be to inform the development of a National Policy on the Repatriation of Human Remains and Associated Heritage Objects in Namibia. The paper will then highlight the challenges of negotiating the role of descendant communities within the context of existing institutional frameworks.
Collaborations of First Nations and Scientists: a Canadian Perspective
By: Dr. Susan Pfeiffer (University of Toronto)
Each province of Canada has strong heritage legislation, but issues regarding the management of curated human remains are handled through negotiated agreements. Descendants and scientists can work together and learn about the lives of the ancestors. Descendants allowed one tooth per person to be retained from 1700 ancestral Huron-Wendat skeletons, reburied in 2013. Projects using
these tissue samples must address descendants’ priorities and must involve them. There have been discoveries about ancestral diets, child care, diseases, mobility and DNA of ancestral communities. In ongoing discussions about repatriation, descendants are asked if they wish to have such samples retained.
Homecoming: A Scottish Museum’s Perspectives on Repatriation
By: Dr. Patricia Allan (Curator, Glasgow Museums)
Ancestral remains and sacred artefacts are held in thousands of museum collections across the world, the result of more than three centuries of collecting and scientific study. In recent years, museums have found themselves at the centre of controversy over collecting, displaying and
storing human remains. Moral and ethical considerations mean that museums have a duty of care to treat ancestral remains and associated issues, including repatriation, with care and sensitivity. This presentation will look at Glasgow Museums’ practical and ethical approach to the care of ancestral remains in its collections, and to issues regarding repatriation, particularly provenance.
A Brief Overview on Policy and Legislation on Human Remain Management in Zambia
By: Maggie Katongo
Since Zambia has no direct policy and legislation on human remains management. The presentation is going to focus its attention on institutions that have been mandated to deal will human remains management in Zambia. The presentation will look at the issues that have been addressed by these institutions regarding human remains and those not addressed and efforts these institutions are making regarding human remains management. Last but not the least, the challenges faced by these institutions. Lastly, it will look at the importance of policy and legislation on human remains management to Zambia.
Exhumation of liberation war remains in Zimbabwe and Community
Perceptions.
By: Dr.Njabalo Chapangura (Archaeology Curator, Mutare Museum)
In this paper, I am going to speak on how National Museums & Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) has of late conducted the exhumation of human remains in mass graves of the liberation war struggle (1972-1979). I will use examples drawn from three exhumations projects that I participated in as an archaeologist in Eastern Zimbabwe between 2013 and 2015. Ironically, these exhumations have been contested and regarded by the community as despicable and a sign of disrespecting the dead. The collecting of material culture from the mass graves by archaeologists for further analysis at the museum was viewed as unethical act of ‘robbing’ the dead. Sharing this part of contested histories of collecting the mosaics of the liberation struggle will allow me to reflect upon some of the ethical considerations involved in collecting human remains.
Overcoming Inherited Legacies
By: Rooksana Omar (CEO Iziko Museums)
The Iziko Museums of South Africa based in Cape Town has a Physical Anthropology collection of the physical remains of ±1400 people. The staff began collecting human remains from 1872 and added to this collection over the years. ‘The collection’s history follows closely that of imperial, colonial, apartheid and post-Apartheid science conducted in southern Africa”. In 2005 the Iziko Museums proactively crafted a policy on Human Remains which focused on the care and return of the 150 unethically collected human remains. The purpose of this presentation is to discuss the Iziko Museums policy on Human Remains.
Shedding Light on Dark Memories
By: Annelize Kotze
Museums need to bring to light the dark past of the unethical collections of the human remains of indigenous people, an inherited legacy which haunts these institutions to this day. What was thought of to be for the benefit of science in the past, have been exposed as atrocities. It is the responsibility of museums to reveal the strides they are taking to see the spirits of the men, women and children previously housed as museum objects, liberated from storage boxes, and returned from where they were taken.