Imperial skulduggery, science and the issue of provenance and restitution

Bibliographic Data

ID4531375
AuthorsReinhart Kößler (University of the Free State, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume4
Issue2
Pages27-44
Publication date2018-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHuman Remains and Violence An Interdisciplinary Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2054-2240 • E-ISSN: 2054-2240
PublisherManchester University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.7227/hrv.4.2.3
OpenAlexW2945056742
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited5

This article explores the history of the Alexander Ecker Collection and situates it within the larger trajectory of global collecting of human remains during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This is then linked to the specific context of the genocide in then German South West Africa (1904-8), with the central figure of Eugen Fischer. The later trajectory of the collection leads up to the current issues of restitution. The Freiburg case is instructive since it raises issues about the possibilities and limitations of provenance research. At the same time, the actual restitution of fourteen human remains in 2014 occurred in a way that sparked serious conflict in Namibia which is still on-going four years later. In closing, exigencies as well as pressing needs in connection with the repatriation and (where possible) rehumanisation of human remains are discussed

Archaeology · Deportation · Genocide · German · Immigration · Political science · Repatriation · Restitution · Sociology · Archaeological Research and Protection · Forensic and Genetic Research · History · Law · Race, Genetics, and Society

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Open DOIOpen Access