Exposing the Dead. Human Remains on Display. Round Table Discussion

Thursday, May 19, 2022, 7:00 PM at Einstein Forum in Potsdam
Exposing the Dead. Human Remains on Display
With Isabelle Reimann, Holger Stoecker, Liv Nilsson Stutz, Aleksei Yurchak. Chair: Frédéric Keck
Throughout human history, treating the deceased with dignity has often meant burying their bodies or otherwise hiding them from view. Yet time and again, some human corpses or parts thereof are put on display. This can be done both to honor and to dishonor the dead, and to warn or inspire the living. In the colonial era, European museums started collecting and displaying body parts in the name of science and medicine. What should museums do with such collections today? Should they always be restituted, and if so, to whom? Who has a claim to the dead? And do the dead have a claim on us?