Theatrical Performance and the Forensic Turn

Frieze, James

doi:10.4324/9780203743768

Cited by 4 publications

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“…This has contributed to an explosion of popular culture in which forensics and the corpse have taken center stage (Foltyn 2008; Harrington 2007; Penfold‐Mounce 2016; Steenberg 2013). Given the understanding that forensic science and its associated narratives offer opportunities for uncovering the “truth” (Frieze 2019) about particular situations, forensic scientific narratives appeal to a desire for certainty and connection—to know what “really” happened to people, and to bring perpetrators to justice. This has resulted in greater public interest and literacy in forensic narratives.…”

Section: The Forensics Exhibition the Properties Of Materials And The...mentioning

confidence: 99%

THE FORENSICS EXHIBITION: Displaying Human Remains as Material Evidence of Genocide

Gill

2022

Museum Anthropology

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This paper examines the role of human remains in genocide memorials and museums to evoke and narrate individual experiences of genocide. Understanding that the display of human remains is contested, I suggest that their presence in memorials and museums can play a valuable, but hitherto neglected, role in the development of individualized and evidentiary narratives of genocide. Such narratives, developed through explicit information regarding the provenance of the remains and the forensic analysis conducted, can deepen the engagement with and understanding of the victims of genocide by museum visitors. Based on the Forensics Exhibition in Tuol Sleng, Cambodia, I argue that explicitly displaying and explicating the remains develops a powerful evidentiary narrative complementing those developed in more familiar exhibitions. In so doing, I expand on debates regarding the liminal position of human remains as person and object, arguing that the display of such remains in a forensic and public context supports engagement with the remains as individuals. In so doing, the paper provides an opportunity to consider the management of the dead and human remains in the aftermath of mass violence and genocide, attempting to marry the emotional and social needs of the survivors with the desire for “evidence” articulated in the legal, historical, and pedagogical realms.

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