Who knows who we are? Questioning DNA analysis in disaster victim identification

Bennett, Caroline

doi:10.1080/14636778.2014.946003

Cited by 12 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…This change came about in response to various developments. One such development regards advances in the forensic sciences, including DNA analysis (International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC] 2009;Bennett 2014;Williams and Wienroth 2014). Often considered a ''truth machine'' (Lynch et al 2008), the promises of forensic DNA typing have given rise to a new imperative in DVI practices: if identification is possible, then everything possible must be done to identify each and every victim of a disaster.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, the recovery, identification, repatriation, and retention of disaster victims and their remains as well as interactions with victims' families are situated within a complex network where inter alia forensic science, bodies and body parts, standardization, bereaved families, kinship, bureaucracy, politics, and legal decisions intersect. Various combinations of these issues have received scholarly attention (see Wagner 2008Wagner , 2014Petrović-Ś teger 2009;Edkins 2011;Evison et al 2012;Ferrándiz 2013;Moon 2013;Bennett 2014;Haimes and Toom 2014;Scully 2014;Williams and Wienroth 2014;Rosenblatt 2015), but the intersection of science, law, and bodies has been neglected so far and is a main concern in the present article.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Whose Body Is It? Technolegal Materialization of Victims’ Bodies and Remains after the World Trade Center Terrorist Attacks

Toom

2015

Science, Technology, & Human Values

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This article empirically analyzes how victims’ remains were recovered, identified, repatriated, and retained after the World Trade Center (WTC) terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. It does so by asking the question whose body is it. This question brings to the fore issues related to personhood and ownership: how are anonymous and unrecognizable bodily remains given back an identity; and who has ownership of or custody over identified and unidentified human remains? It is in this respect that the article engages with technoscientific and legal, or “technolegal,” trajectories of human remains in the wake of the WTC tragedy. By using the metaphor of “materialization,” it becomes possible to trace how remains are forensically identified and implicated in legal regimes. “Technolegal materialization” as a concept and methodological sensitivity contributes to the current “actor-network theory” (ANT)-inspired legal scholarship, which tends to focus on legal practices in courtrooms but not those beyond them. In this article, 9/11 victims’ remains are followed from “Ground Zero” to the forensic laboratory and beyond and articulates five instances of technolegal materialization of bodily remains and their past and contemporary existences.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whose Body Is It? Technolegal Materialization of Victims’ Bodies and Remains after the World Trade Center Terrorist Attacks

Toom

2015

Science, Technology, & Human Values

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“…Annex VII Article 7 of the DPA, the article specifically dealing with the issue of missing persons, opened the doors for expectations of the families of the missing that identifications of the bodies will be individual identifications of physical remains. It also enabled control of the bodies by the state as the one who is ultimately responsible for them 68 . The fact that the issue of the missing is directly dealt with in the DPA showcases the international community's agenda to base reconciliation, in part, on accounting for those missing from the war.…”

Section: Where Does It End?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ghosts of the past: The competing agendas of forensic work in identifying the missing across Bosnia and Herzegovina

Jugo¹,

Škulj²

2015

Human Remains and Violence: An Interdisciplinary Journal

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Citation for published item:tugoD edmir nd § kuljD enem @PHISA 9qhosts of the pst X the ompeting gends of forensi work in identifying the missing ross fosni nd rerzegovinF9D rumn remins nd violene X n interdisiplinry journlFD I @IAF ppF QWESTF Further information on publisher's website: httpsXGGdoiForgGIHFUPPUGrFIFIFR Publisher's copyright statement:he de(nitiveD peerEreviewed nd edited version of this rtile is pulished inX tugoD edmir nd § kuljD enemD PHISD qhosts of the pstX he ompeting gends of forensi work in identifying the missing ross fosni nd rerzegovinD rumn emins nd ioleneX en snterdisiplinry tournlD IX ID QWESTD hysX IHFUPPUGrFIFIFR PHIS euthor@sAF ulished y wnhester niversity ressF Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details.

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Is DNA always the answer?

Bennett

2020

Forensic Science and Humanitarian Action

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Who knows who we are? Questioning DNA analysis in disaster victim identification

Cited by 12 publications

References 48 publications

Whose Body Is It? Technolegal Materialization of Victims’ Bodies and Remains after the World Trade Center Terrorist Attacks

Whose Body Is It? Technolegal Materialization of Victims’ Bodies and Remains after the World Trade Center Terrorist Attacks

Ghosts of the past: The competing agendas of forensic work in identifying the missing across Bosnia and Herzegovina

Is DNA always the answer?

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