Terms of Death: Bone(s), Death, Execution(s), Hanged, Hanging, Remains, Human Remains, Skull(s)
Working Definition:
While these terms may not be inherently harmful, they are often used to describe content within Philippines collections at U-M. Many of these collections are graphic and may evoke emotional responses within individuals who utilize these collections. It is critical that collections managers take special care in describing these materials and work with community members who wish to examine these items.
Related Terms:
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Ann M. Kakaliouras, “The Ancestors Should Go Home: Anthropology, Collaboration, and Repatriation in the Twenty-First Century,” Working with Ancestors: Collaboration in the Care and Study of Ancestral Remains, Chelsea H. Meloche, Laure Spake, and Katherine L. Nichols, eds., (Oxfordshire, England: Routledge, 2021); Margaret M. Bruchac, “Colonizing the Indigenous Dead,” History of Anthropology Review Vol. 45 (2021): https://histanthro.org/news/observations/colonizing-the-indigenous-dead/; Katherine Verdery, The Political Lives of Dead Bodies: Reburial and Postsocialist Change (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999)
*Note: These readings do not focus on the Philippines, but are examples of informative scholarship about the politics of death and memory that may inform archival work and collections management.