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What did we do differently? My feeling is there are three key aspects which shifted power and blame.
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I have reflected on why this process was so unique and positive. What was it that made this so particular in terms of a model to seek redress? We decided to start there.Ī visit to the farm in Sutherland where the remains had originally been buried. Of the 11 unethically procured sets of remains, nine are from the town of Sutherland in the Northern Cape. With the university’s Office of Inclusivity and Change we have embarked on the initial phase of the restitution project. The research suggested these remains should not be at the university.įast forward to 2018 after a lengthy process of figuring out a way forward.
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Unfortunately, I found 11 individuals with known names or dates of deaths or which were known to the donor in life. I returned to the University of Cape Town (UCT) and examined the Human Skeletal Repository records. In 2017, there were several South African initiatives to drive a process to distinguish between ethical and unethical procurement of human remains in universities and museums – and to discuss restitution. Globally, the historical unethical procurement and use of skeletal remains is something that haunts biological anthropology. How did you rediscover the skeletons and their attendant ethical dilemma? We asked the project’s Dr Victoria Gibbon to tell us more… Called the Sutherland Reburials Project, the process enabled the university to attempt to provide an ethical model of redress and social justice through science. A multi-disciplinary team of academics sets about rehumanising the San and Khoi remains, consulting with their ancestors – both past and present – and restoring dignity to the bones. It becomes a stock-taking and place-making moment in the life of the department. The audit reveals the remains of 11 human skeletons that had been unethically obtained and used for study many decades earlier.
#One spirit two skeletons archive#
This story begins with an archive audit at the University of Cape Town’s department of human biology.