Cargando…

Confronting historical legacies of biological anthropology in South Africa—Restitution, redress and community-centered science: The Sutherland Nine

We describe a process of restitution of nine unethically acquired human skeletons to their families, together with attempts at redress. Between 1925–1927 C.E., the skeletonised remains of nine San or Khoekhoe people, eight of them known-in-life, were removed from their graves on the farm Kruisrivier...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Gibbon, Victoria E., Feris, Loretta, Gretzinger, Joscha, Smith, Kathryn, Hall, Simon, Penn, Nigel, Mutsvangwa, Tinashe E. M., Heale, Michaela, Finaughty, Devin A., Karanja, Yvonne W., Esterhuyse, Jan, Kotze, Daniël, Barnes, Nina, Gunston, Geney, May, Je’nine, Krause, Johannes, Wilkinson, Caroline M., Schiffels, Stephan, Februarie, Doreen, Alves, Sianne, Sealy, Judith C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10208512/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37224187
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284785
_version_ 1785046683301707776
author Gibbon, Victoria E.
Feris, Loretta
Gretzinger, Joscha
Smith, Kathryn
Hall, Simon
Penn, Nigel
Mutsvangwa, Tinashe E. M.
Heale, Michaela
Finaughty, Devin A.
Karanja, Yvonne W.
Esterhuyse, Jan
Kotze, Daniël
Barnes, Nina
Gunston, Geney
May, Je’nine
Krause, Johannes
Wilkinson, Caroline M.
Schiffels, Stephan
Februarie, Doreen
Alves, Sianne
Sealy, Judith C.
author_facet Gibbon, Victoria E.
Feris, Loretta
Gretzinger, Joscha
Smith, Kathryn
Hall, Simon
Penn, Nigel
Mutsvangwa, Tinashe E. M.
Heale, Michaela
Finaughty, Devin A.
Karanja, Yvonne W.
Esterhuyse, Jan
Kotze, Daniël
Barnes, Nina
Gunston, Geney
May, Je’nine
Krause, Johannes
Wilkinson, Caroline M.
Schiffels, Stephan
Februarie, Doreen
Alves, Sianne
Sealy, Judith C.
author_sort Gibbon, Victoria E.
collection PubMed
description We describe a process of restitution of nine unethically acquired human skeletons to their families, together with attempts at redress. Between 1925–1927 C.E., the skeletonised remains of nine San or Khoekhoe people, eight of them known-in-life, were removed from their graves on the farm Kruisrivier, near Sutherland in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. They were donated to the Anatomy Department at the University of Cape Town. This was done without the knowledge or permission of their families. The donor was a medical student who removed the remains from the labourers’ cemetery on his family farm. Nearly 100 years later, the remains are being returned to their community, accompanied by a range of community-driven interdisciplinary historical, archaeological and analytical (osteobiographic, craniofacial, ancient DNA, stable isotope) studies to document, as far as possible, their lives and deaths. The restitution process began by contacting families living in the same area with the same surnames as the deceased. The restitution and redress process prioritises the descendant families’ memories, wishes and desire to understand the situation, and learn more about their ancestors. The descendant families have described the process as helping them to reconnect with their ancestors. A richer appreciation of their ancestors’ lives, gained in part from scientific analyses, culminating with reburial, is hoped to aid the descendant families and wider community in [re-]connecting with their heritage and culture, and contribute to restorative justice, reconciliation and healing while confronting a traumatic historical moment. While these nine individuals were exhumed as specimens, they will be reburied as people.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10208512
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-102085122023-05-25 Confronting historical legacies of biological anthropology in South Africa—Restitution, redress and community-centered science: The Sutherland Nine Gibbon, Victoria E. Feris, Loretta Gretzinger, Joscha Smith, Kathryn Hall, Simon Penn, Nigel Mutsvangwa, Tinashe E. M. Heale, Michaela Finaughty, Devin A. Karanja, Yvonne W. Esterhuyse, Jan Kotze, Daniël Barnes, Nina Gunston, Geney May, Je’nine Krause, Johannes Wilkinson, Caroline M. Schiffels, Stephan Februarie, Doreen Alves, Sianne Sealy, Judith C. PLoS One Research Article We describe a process of restitution of nine unethically acquired human skeletons to their families, together with attempts at redress. Between 1925–1927 C.E., the skeletonised remains of nine San or Khoekhoe people, eight of them known-in-life, were removed from their graves on the farm Kruisrivier, near Sutherland in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. They were donated to the Anatomy Department at the University of Cape Town. This was done without the knowledge or permission of their families. The donor was a medical student who removed the remains from the labourers’ cemetery on his family farm. Nearly 100 years later, the remains are being returned to their community, accompanied by a range of community-driven interdisciplinary historical, archaeological and analytical (osteobiographic, craniofacial, ancient DNA, stable isotope) studies to document, as far as possible, their lives and deaths. The restitution process began by contacting families living in the same area with the same surnames as the deceased. The restitution and redress process prioritises the descendant families’ memories, wishes and desire to understand the situation, and learn more about their ancestors. The descendant families have described the process as helping them to reconnect with their ancestors. A richer appreciation of their ancestors’ lives, gained in part from scientific analyses, culminating with reburial, is hoped to aid the descendant families and wider community in [re-]connecting with their heritage and culture, and contribute to restorative justice, reconciliation and healing while confronting a traumatic historical moment. While these nine individuals were exhumed as specimens, they will be reburied as people. Public Library of Science 2023-05-24 /pmc/articles/PMC10208512/ /pubmed/37224187 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284785 Text en © 2023 Gibbon et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Gibbon, Victoria E.
Feris, Loretta
Gretzinger, Joscha
Smith, Kathryn
Hall, Simon
Penn, Nigel
Mutsvangwa, Tinashe E. M.
Heale, Michaela
Finaughty, Devin A.
Karanja, Yvonne W.
Esterhuyse, Jan
Kotze, Daniël
Barnes, Nina
Gunston, Geney
May, Je’nine
Krause, Johannes
Wilkinson, Caroline M.
Schiffels, Stephan
Februarie, Doreen
Alves, Sianne
Sealy, Judith C.
Confronting historical legacies of biological anthropology in South Africa—Restitution, redress and community-centered science: The Sutherland Nine
title Confronting historical legacies of biological anthropology in South Africa—Restitution, redress and community-centered science: The Sutherland Nine
title_full Confronting historical legacies of biological anthropology in South Africa—Restitution, redress and community-centered science: The Sutherland Nine
title_fullStr Confronting historical legacies of biological anthropology in South Africa—Restitution, redress and community-centered science: The Sutherland Nine
title_full_unstemmed Confronting historical legacies of biological anthropology in South Africa—Restitution, redress and community-centered science: The Sutherland Nine
title_short Confronting historical legacies of biological anthropology in South Africa—Restitution, redress and community-centered science: The Sutherland Nine
title_sort confronting historical legacies of biological anthropology in south africa—restitution, redress and community-centered science: the sutherland nine
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10208512/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37224187
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284785
work_keys_str_mv AT gibbonvictoriae confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT ferisloretta confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT gretzingerjoscha confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT smithkathryn confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT hallsimon confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT pennnigel confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT mutsvangwatinasheem confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT healemichaela confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT finaughtydevina confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT karanjayvonnew confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT esterhuysejan confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT kotzedaniel confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT barnesnina confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT gunstongeney confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT mayjenine confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT krausejohannes confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT wilkinsoncarolinem confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT schiffelsstephan confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT februariedoreen confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT alvessianne confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine
AT sealyjudithc confrontinghistoricallegaciesofbiologicalanthropologyinsouthafricarestitutionredressandcommunitycenteredsciencethesutherlandnine