a day ago
The impossible politics of ‘ancestral remains'
In 2002 the remains of Sarah Baartman were buried in her South African homeland. She was among thousands of people around the world from whom body parts were collected in recent centuries and stored or displayed in museums. You might think, as tastes and norms change, returning these remains to their communities a simple thing. But a recent report from an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Afrikan Reparations urging such action has proved controversial among archaeologists.
The APPG, chaired by Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP, sets out its recommendations in a policy brief called Laying Ancestors to Rest. It calls for the outlawing of the sale of human remains, an inquiry into the use of 'ancestral remains' in British museums, and museums and 'educational institutions' to stop displaying 'ancestral remains'.
