This book book considers how these issues relate to collections of Indigenous skeletal remains, but also their resonance with emerging concerns about the relatively unknown history of scientific interest in Indigenous hair and blood samples. also explores the more recent practice of sampling for the purposes of DNA analysis, and issues concerning the data that has been produced from all of the above types of research. enables discourses of identity and scientific authority, an assessment their efficacy, and an exploration of ethical and practical challenges and opportunities by placing recent interest in applying scientific techniques to repatriation in their historical context. this book reveals new histories about scientific interest in Indigenous biology and the collections that resulted, as well as providing reflection for all repatriation practitioners considering scientific investigation when faced with the challenges inherent in the repatriation of unprovenanced or poorly provenanced Ancestral Remains. is an invaluable resource for researchers and professionals working with Indigenous Ancestral Remains.

"The Dead and Their Possessions" presents recent research by indigenous and non-indigenous people from museum, archaeological, anthropological, historical, educational, and community backgrounds. The authors examine a wide range of histories, experiences, developments, and consequences of the collecting and/or repatriation of human remains, with contributions from countries such as Uruguay and South Africa, where the issue is only just beginning, to the United States, where repatriation has been law for over a decade.
This book raises fundamental questions about the nature, ethics and practice of scientific enquiry, the ownership of the dead, the politics of the past and the needs of the future. The issues surrounding the collecting and repatriation of human remains are not only of vital importance to many indigenous groups, but also to the future of museum curatorship and the nature and practice of archaeology and anthropology today. This book will be invaluable not only to those involved inthe teaching and research in this field, but also to museum professionals who have received repatriation requests, and to those groups who are facing the challenges of the return of human remains and cultural objects to their own communities.

This volume brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous repatriation practitioners and researchers to provide the reader with an international overview of the removal and return of Ancestral Remains. The Ancestral Remains of Indigenous peoples are today housed in museums and other collecting institutions globally. They were taken from anywhere the deceased can be found, and their removal occurred within a context of deep power imbalance within a colonial project that had a lasting effect on Indigenous peoples worldwide. Through the efforts of First Nations campaigners, many have returned home. However, a large number are still retained. In many countries, the repatriation issue has driven a profound change in the relationship between Indigenous peoples and collecting institutions. It has enabled significant steps towards resetting this relationship from one constrained by colonisation to one that seeks a more just, dignified and truthful basis for interaction. The history of repatriation is one of Indigenous perseverance and success. The authors of this book contribute major new work and explore new facets of this global movement. They reflect on nearly 40 years of repatriation, its meaning and value, impact and effect. This book is an invaluable contribution to repatriation practice and research, providing a wealth of new knowledge to readers with interests in Indigenous histories, self-determination and the relationship between collecting institutions and Indigenous peoples.

The controversial 'reburial issue' first developed about thirty years ago when some indigenous groups started to campaign for the return of their ancestral human remains from museums and collecting institutions, and these requests were refused. Since then, museums in some countries have responded positively to repatriation requests while those in others continue to refuse them. This incisive book provides the reader with what has been generally missing in the current debate and available literature - a detailed historical understanding of how and why these collections were amassed, and the responses of indigenous groups and collectors at the time. The book focusses particularly on Australia as a background to its documentation and examination of the issue. The reburial question has had wide repercussions for all involved. Today, the topic is of continuing relevance for archaeologists, anthropologists and museum professionals, as well as for many indigenous groups worldwide. The issue highlights two very different approaches to items which hold exceptional importance in many cultures - human remains.It is also about the relationship between science and the people whose past is the subject of academic enquiry, and how the sometimes hegemonic nature of this relationship has, through the issue documented here, relentlessly bubbled to the surface. What may appear at first a simple clash of interests is thus revealed to have many deeper aspects.