Smithsonian task force pushes for speedy repatriation of 30,000 human remains

Since the 19th century, scientists at the Smithsonian Institution have obtained, studied, and stored more than 30,000 human remains, one of the largest such collections in the United States. In the past, many remains were studied in order to justify scientific racism. Now, the institution should rapidly offer to return most of these remains to lineal descendants or descendant communities, according to a report released last week by an institutional task force. “It’s important to face this past and try to repair the harms caused by our institution and so many others,” says Sabrina Sholts, curator of biological anthropology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, and member of the task force. The Smithsonian already has a process for repatriating Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native remains, as a 1989 federal law requires; it has returned more than 5000 of them. Now, the report urges that Indigenous remains be returned more quickly and that the effort extend to all human remains. However, it suggests prioritizing the remains of marginalized groups, such as the collection’s 15,000 Native American remains and 2100 African American remains, as well as the nearly 6000 remains of people whose names are at least partially known. The task force applies a bedrock principle of research on living humans—the need for informed consent—to the remains, a first for the Smithsonian. It advises that no research ...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research