Decolonize this collection: Integrating black feminism and art to re‐examine human skeletal remains in museums

Abstract

This article combines traditional avenues of bioarchaeological research with Black feminist theory to decolonize identified skeletal collections housed in museums. Inspired by the activism of Decolonize This Place (DTP), I put the remains of Black women who were dissected in Progressive Era New York City into conversation with Black feminist theorists and artists. I argue that to "flesh in" the lives of these long anonymized and disarticulated women, it is essential to perform interdisciplinary and decolonizing work that is inspired by Black women. The field of biological anthropology will benefit from moving past privileging "scientific" knowledge and considering what the arts might contribute to our representations of the bodies we study, as suggested by Katherine McKittrick (2010). Furthermore, for our field to truly become inclusive, we must encourage scholars with multiple consciousnesses, as proposed by Faye Harrison (2010).

The Scientific Profiles of Documented Collections via Publication Data: Past, Present, and Future Directions in Forensic Anthropology

“…The other papers' altmetric profiles vary, with mentions in diverse news/social media outlets. The paper with the fourth highest score addresses a topic that is gaining momentum in academia and academic research on the basis of human remains, human collections, and ethics [39]. With #BlackLivesMatter, there has been a growing preoccupation with addressing the decolonization of museums and identified osteological collections, and a questioning of the scientific approach to vulnerable communities and to the acquisition of human remains, both in the past and in the present [40,41].…”

Remembering St. Louis Individual—structural violence and acute bacterial infections in a historical anatomical collection

“…Indeed, there is increasing momentum across multiple museums in the US, including the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History which houses the nation’s largest collection of human remains, including the Terry Collection, to develop guidance on the study of Black and/or African American, and marginalized American individuals in their collections 94 , 95 . While not a new concept 93 , 96 , scientific research must position itself to be more reflective of how generated information affects living communities and represents the past.…”

“…Here, we have chosen not to disseminate human genetic and other personalizing information for St.LI due to the history of medical exploitation 27 and the increasing impact of genetic ancestry studies and services on society (e.g., appropriation of genetic ancestry results to claim Black and/or African American and Indigenous community identity, scholarship, and culture in the United States 117 – 120 ), attempting to minimize further disruption to the rest and privacy of St.LI and his possible descendants. More broadly however, we argue that it is imperative that curatorial institutions and wider research communities utilizing historical documented collections develop decolonized research, publication, training, and curation guidelines and policies that actively recognize the personhood and embodied life histories of the individuals included in documented collections 96 , 121 . These policies should further translate into repatriation for individuals accompanied by individual-specific documentation and identifiable descendant(s) and/or communities.…”

Genes, Race, Ancestry, and Identity in Forensic Anthropology: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Concerns

“…Self-reflexivity of anthropologists themselves is an essential part of reconciling ancestry as an identification tool, a research endeavor, and as a culturally meaningful concept, as is the inclusion of Black feminist theory in critical assessments of skeletal collections. 25,26 Genomics, Identity, and the Role of Social Science Approaches to Death Investigations The growing popularity of direct-to-consumer genetic testing and the incredible success of forensic genomics in modern death investigations has not been lost on anthropologists, and many of us have worked closely with DNA scientists and genealogists on remains that have long sat unidentified in our labs. Among the potential benefits of these new approaches is the ability of genomics to clarify the genetic ancestry of these individuals, utilizing statistical tools incorporated into platforms such as GEDMatch, Family Tree DNA, and DNASolves to provide incredibly detailed BGA estimates.…”