Beyond death: the treatments of indigenous human remains - a humn rights perspective

Indigenous human remains that have been disinterred and removed (often overseas) without the permission of the descendants of the deceased fall within the broader category of movable cultural heritage. It is accepted that the rights associated with culture as well as certain other human rights—such...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Blake, Janet (Auteur)
Type de support: Numérique/imprimé Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Routledge 2007
Dans: Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Année: 2007, Volume: 18, Numéro: 3, Pages: 367-375
Sujets non-standardisés:B Menschenrechte
B concept of death
B Human Rights
B Ureinwohner / Indigene Völker
B Conception de la mort
B indigenous peoples / aborigines
Accès en ligne: Volltext (doi)
Description
Résumé:Indigenous human remains that have been disinterred and removed (often overseas) without the permission of the descendants of the deceased fall within the broader category of movable cultural heritage. It is accepted that the rights associated with culture as well as certain other human rights—such as freedom of expression and association—are applicable directly to cultural heritage. When considering the human rights dimension of the treatment of indigenous human remains, it is vital to appreciate that for indigeneous peoples the bodies of their ancestors represent an important spiritual heritage as well as being an essential element in their sense of identity. Therefore, both their religious practices (which may include the worship of their ancestors) and their right to cultural identity (and the associated material heritage) should be respected. Most legal systems have laws that prohibit the disturbance of burial grounds, although it is not uncommon for old burial grounds to be turned over to other purposes. For indigenous peoples, both the dead and their burial grounds remain sacred even after thousands of years. The potential for conflict between the wider social importance of indigenous human remains as repositories of scientific information and their special significance to the indigenous community concerned is strong. This raises important ethical questions for anthropologists and museum curators in relation to the treatment of indigenous human remains.
ISSN:0959-6410
Contient:In: Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/09596410701396113