Anthropology of Violent Death

Edited byRoberto C. Parra is a Peruvian forensic anthropologist and staff member of the technical assistance team of the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). He has worked as an expert witness and as a strategic manager for the application of forensic sciences in various cases, and has over 20 years of professional experience, including victims of plane crashes and shipwrecks, human rights violations during armed conflicts and post-conflict, as well as in everyday cases of common crime. Since 2012, he has developed international missions in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East for the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) of the United Nations.Douglas H. Ubelaker is a Curator and Senior Scientist at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. He has been a Member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) since 1974, serving as its 2011-2012 President. He is a recipient of many honors, including the Anthropology Award of the Washington Academy of Sciences, the AAFS Lucas Medal, and the FBI Director’s Award for Exceptional Public Service.

• About the editors, xiiiAbout the contributors, xvForeword, xixPreface, xxiiiSeries preface, xxviiAcknowledgments, xxix1 The anthropology of violent death and the treatment of the bodies: an introduction, 1Roberto C. Parra and Douglas H. Ubelaker2 The posthumous dignity of dead persons, 1Antoon De Baets2.1 Introduction: generations and posthumous dignity, 152.2 The dead and posthumous dignity, 172.3 Evidence for posthumous dignity, 182.4 Duties flowing from posthumous dignity, 192.5 The nature of posthumous dignity, 232.6 Semantic debates about posthumous dignity, 252.7 Breaches of posthumous dignity, 262.8 Restoration of posthumous dignity, 282.9 Conclusion: the impact of posthumous dignity, 313 Continuing bonds and social memory: absence--presence, 39Avril Maddrell3.1 What are continuing bonds and how are they experienced and expressed?, 393.2 Continuing bonds and the well-being of mourners, 433.3 Implications for professional service providers, 464 The archaeology of disappearance, 49Alfredo González-Ruibal4.1 Introduction, 494.2 Disappearance and power: concealment, dispersal, and virtualization, 514.3 Material disappearance, human disappearance, 554.4 The disappearance of disappearance, 584.5 Concluding Remarks, 625 Bioarchaeology of violent death, 67Anna Osterholtz, Debra Martin and Ryan Harrod5.1 Introduction and background, 675.2 Categories of group-level violent death, 705.2.1 Bioarchaeology of Massacres, 705.3 Case studies illustrating integrative approaches to massacres in the past, 705.4 Differentiating between kratophanous violence and ritualized death, 775.5 Conclusions, 816 Destruction, mass violence, and human remains: Dealing with dead bodies as a "total social phenomenon", 91Élisabeth Anstett6.1 Introduction, 916.2 Understanding the forms taken by the Forensic Turn, and its effects, 936.3 Understanding the genealogy of professional practices of disinterment, 986.4 The blind spots of a total social phenomenon of great complexity, 1026.5 Conclusion, 1037 Kill, kill again and destroy: when death is not enough, 109Roberto C. Parra, Digna M. Vigo-Corea and Pierre Perich7.1 Introduction, 1097.2 Dehumanizing, 1117.3 When death is not enough, 1147.4 Dismembering/mutilating: the perspective from culture, 1217.5 Conclusions, 1268 Mourning violent deaths and disappearances, 133Antonius C. G. M. Robben8.1 Introduction, 1338.2 The conflictive mourning of the dead and missing after the First World War, 1348.3 Enduring bonds of the living, the dead, and the disappeared in Argentina, 1388.4 Oscillatory mourning of the dead and the disappeared by the bereaved, 1428.5 Conclusion, 1479 Whose humanitarianism, whose forensic anthropology?, 153Jaymelee J. Kim and Adam Rosenblatt9.1 Introduction, 1539.2 Positionality of the authors, 1559.3 Reconceptualizing violent deaths, 1569.4 The dead as articipants in forensic anthropology, 1589.5 What's missing from human rights, 1669.6 The continued expansion of forensic anthropology, 16910 Battlefields and killed in action: tombs of the unknown soldier and commemoration, 177Laura Wittman10.1 Introduction, 17710.2 Tomb of the unknown soldier, 17810.3 Mutilated victory, 18210.4 As an Epilogue, 19011 Mass grave protection and missing persons, 197Melanie Klinkner11.1 Introduction, 19711.2 Missing persons in mass graves: a worldwide phenomenon, 19811.3 The legal framework for mass grave protection, 20111.4 Practicalities of protection, 20811.5 Protection on a global scale, 21011.6 Conclusion: the need to do better, 21312 Respect for the dead under international law and Islamic law in armed conflicts, 219Ahmed Al-Dawoody and Alexandra Ortiz Signoret12.1 Introduction, 21912.2 The Legal Framework, 22012.3 Search for, Collect, and Evacuate the Dead without Adverse Distinction, 22112.4 Identification and Recording of Information on the Dead, 22412.5 Respecting the Dead and Dignified Treatment, 22612.6 Respectful Disposal of the Dead, 22912.7 Gravesites and Other Locations of Mortal Remains, 23312.8 Exhumations, 23412.9 Return of Human Remains and Personal Effects of the Dead, 23612.10 Conclusion, 23913 Unmaking forgotten mass graves and honorable burial: engaging with the spanish civil war legacy, 251Francisco Ferrándiz13.1 Overture, 25113.2 On Funerary Militarism, 25213.3 Franco's Militarist Imprint Under Siege, 25613.4 Unmaking the Generalissimo's Burial, 26213.5 Military disassemblage, 26914 Dealing with bad death in post-conflict societies: forensic devices, burials of exhumed remains, and mourning processes in Peru, 277Valérie Robin-Azevedo14.1 Models for dealing with death: morphologies of "good death" and "bad death", 27714.2 Contexts of mass violence through the lens of bad death, 27814.3 Transitional justice, the forensic turn, and the "dignified burial": can we reverse bad death?, 28014.4 From the necropolitics to the necrogovernamentality of the Peruvian state, 28114.5 Exhumation of mass graves and the reactivation of bad death in the Andes, 28414.6 The task of identification or the process of rehumanization of ill-treated bodies, 28714.7 The uncertain dates and stretched time of bad death, 29114.8 Body substitutes in the absence of any trace of remains, 29314.9 Conclusion, 29515 Migrant death and the ethics of visual documentation in forensic anthropology, 303Krista E. Latham, Alyson J. O'Daniel and Tanya Ramos15.1 Introduction, 30315.2 Disciplinary ethics and social change: contextualizingforensic anthropology practices, 30415.3 Methods and scope, 30915.4 Making the case for a more socially aware practice of forensic anthropology, 31815.5 Closing, 32016 Bedeviling binaries: an integrated and dialectical approach to forensicanthropology in northern Uganda, 327Tricia Redeker Hepner and Dawnie W. Steadman16.1 Introduction, 32716.2 Restless spirits and human remains in Acholiland, Uganda, 32916.3 The integrated approach, 33616.4 To excavate or not to excavate?, 34016.5 Conclusion: from binary to dialectical relationships, 34417 Guiding principles for the dignified management of the dead in humanitarian emergencies and to prevent them from becoming missing persons, 351Stephen Cordner and Morris Tidball-Binz17.1 Why the need for these principles?, 35117.2 To whom are the guiding principles addressed?, 35417.3 Setting the scene, 35517.4 The preamble to the Guiding Principles, 36017.5 The Guiding Principles, 36217.6 The process of producing the Guiding Principles, 36917.7 Conclusions, 36918 Epilog: Anthropology of violent death and forensic humanitarian action, 375Douglas H. Ubelaker and Roberto C. Parra18.1 Humanity and its less violent reactions?, 37518.2 Anthropology applied to forensic sciences and the notion of anthropology of violent death in the humanitarian context, 377Note 382References 383Index, 385