FYI. Cross-posted from H-ASEH. Sorry about any duplicates. Stefanie/ECOFEM Coordinator ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- The Dead and Their Possessions: Variety and Change in Practice and Belief A Theme at the World Archaeological Congress 4, Cape Town, South Africa, 10-14 January 1999 CALL FOR PAPERS Overall theme organisers: Cressida Fforde and Jane Hubert. The debate surrounding the repatriation and reburial of human remains continues to be of the utmost interest to archaeologists, museum curators, anthropologists and indigenous groups throughout the world. The World Archaeological Congress (WAC) has been involved in this debate since its first Congress in Southampton, UK, in 1986. In 1989, a WAC Inter-congress was held in Vermillion, South Dakota, USA, on "Archaeological Ethics and the Treatment of the Dead". The role of WAC in the repatriation debate continues and is reinforced by four symposia at WAC4 devoted to discussion about the repatriation of human remains, funerary and sacred objects. Please submit your abstracts to the relevant symposia convenor as soon as possible. Papers, which will be placed on the WAC4 Web page, and can be up to 5,000 words in length, should be submitted, if possible, in text and electronic format (on disc or as email attachments) by 30 September 1998. FUNDING: We are actively seeking funding for participants in the following symposia. For those who are unable to obtain funding from their own organisation, institution or other grant-giving body, funding may be available from WAC4. Please tell your symposium Convenor of your funding needs as well as contacting the WAC4 conference organisers* for further information. VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV Symposium 1: Body and Soul, Specimen and Commodity: meaning, interpretation and treatment of human remains and funerary objects Principal Convenor: Jane Hubert, Department of Psychiatry of Disability, St. Georges Hospital Medical School, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 ORE, UK. Tel: +44 181 725 5504, Fax: +44 171 383 2572, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Co-convenor: Ben Rhodd, Box 846, Hill City, SD 57745, USA. Fax: +1 605 538 4315 The aim of this symposium is to examine the different meanings and significance that have been attributed to human remains and funerary objects, now and in the past, by different cultures or groups, including indigenous people, archaeologists, museum curators and scientists. Topics of relevance to this symposium include: .. different beliefs, attitudes, treatment and uses of human remains and funerary objects .. the social, economic and political consequences of conflicting beliefs .. how and why beliefs change over time .. people as objects, objects as people .. boundaries between life and death .. the compatibility or otherwise of scientific and non-scientific interests. .. Past and present social perspectives on medical uses of the dead (dissection, organ donation, etc.) .. The body of the other in the history of dissection .. rights of the dead and claims on the body .. ownership of the dead Symposium 2. Collecting, Collections and the Development of the Reburial Issue Principal Convenor: Paul Turnbull, Centre for Cross Cultural Research, Australian National University, ACT 0200, Australia. Fax: +61 2 6249 4196, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Co-Convenors: Larry J Zimmerman, Department of Anthropology, 114 Macbride Hall, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 - 1322, USA. Tel: +1 319 335 3506, Fax: +1 319 335 0653, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Audhild Schanche, Council of Sami Heritage, P.O. 103, 9820 Varangerbotn, Norway. Tel. +47 78 959 180, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Part 1: Collections and Collecting in the Past and the Present. The aim of Part 1 is to examine the history of collecting and collections, contemporary attitudes of the scientific and non-scientific community, and how these have changed over time. Topics of relevance include: .. the history of collecting and collections of human remains .. physical anthropology, anatomy, comparative anatomy, phrenology and other practices in the context of the collecting and study of human remains. .. motivations and methods .. contemporary responses of indigenous and non-indigenous groups to the collecting of human remains .. the implications of scientific interpretations of collected human remains Part 2: The Development of the Reburial Issue The aim of Part 2 is to examine the development of the reburial debate and the emergence of the repatriation issue. Topics of relevance include: .. history of the reburial issue .. political, social and religious aspects of claims to ownership .. issues concerning the repatriation of non-indigenous human remains .. repatriation of human remains as a local and/or pan-indigenous concern .. the effect of past codes of ethics and other policies on the repatriation debate Symposium 3. Creating and Implementing National Repatriation Legislation and Policy. Principal Convenor: C. Timothy McKeown, National Parks Service, Archaeology and Ethnography Program, 1849, C Street, NW, Room NC 340, Washington DC 20240, USA. Tel: +1 202 343 1142, Fax: +1 202 343 5260, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Co-Convenor: Barbara Isaac, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Tel: +1 617 495 2254, Fax: +1 617 495 7535, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This symposium will present an overview of national and international approaches concerning the repatriation of human remains and funerary objects. The passage and implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in the United States provides a central case study with which other approaches and developments in other parts of the world are compared and contrasted. Topics of relevance include: .. NAGPRA: drafting legislation from a Native American and archaeological perspective .. implementing NAGPRA .. implications of NAGPRA for museums, federal agencies, Native Americans and archaeologists .. implications of the National Museum of the American Indian Act at the Smithsonian .. other legislation and policy approaches to repatriation world wide: development, implementation and implications. Symposium 4. Repatriation and its Implications Principal Convenor: Cressida Fforde, Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H OPY. Tel: +44 171 380 7496, Fax: +44 171 383 2572, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Co-convenors: Lyndon Ormond Parker, FAIRA Aboriginal Corporation, +44 171 460 7280, Fax+ 44 171 373 4416, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Deanne Hanchant, 1251 Greenhill Road, URAIDLA, South Australia 5152, Australia. Fax: +61 8 8207 3124, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This symposium is concerned with the repatriation of human remains and funerary objects to their communities of origin. It will examine the effects and implications that the return of such items have on the various groups involved, such as the communities concerned, museum curators, archaeologists and anthropologists. Topics of relevance include: .. the effect and significance of repatriation for indigenous communities .. the significance of repatriation for the relationship between and within the scientific and indigenous communities .. the significance of repatriation for relevant government organisations and their relationship with the scientific and indigenous communities .. the effect or otherwise of repatriation on scientific research .. the implications of repatriation for the relationship between archaeological theory, research methods and politics .. the relationship between the repatriation issue and the construction of identity(ies) .. indigenous community issues arising from repatriation .. the effect of the repatriation issue on collecting policies and collecting institutions .. the effect of the repatriation issue on museum policy. ************************************ Dr. Stefanie S. Rixecker Division of Environmental Management & Design Lincoln University, Canterbury PO Box 56 Aotearoa New Zealand E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fax: 64-03-325-3841 ************************************
