Department of Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.
Laboratories of Molecular Anthropology and Microbiome Research and Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, USA.
Am J Biol Anthropol. 2024 Oct;185(2):e24980. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.24980. Epub 2024 Jun 1.
Although ethical reforms in biological anthropology have gained ground in recent years, there is still a scarcity of ethical standards for work involving historical documented collections (HDCs) at US museums and universities. These collections of deceased individuals were created in the late 19th to mid-20th centuries under anatomy laws that targeted socially marginalized communities and allowed for the dissection of these individuals without their consent. Due to the extensive information associated with the individuals and made available to researchers, these collections have served as foundational resources for theory and methods development in biological anthropology into the 21st century. Recognizing the need for ethical guidelines for research, teaching and training, community engagement, and curation involving HDCs, we held a workshop called "Ethical Futures for Curation, Research, and Teaching in Biological Anthropology" on November 15-17, 2021. Here we summarize the conversations and major points of consensus among the workshop participants on these topics in order to advance these ethical considerations more broadly across the field.
尽管近年来生物人类学领域的伦理改革取得了一定进展，但对于美国博物馆和大学中涉及历史文档收藏（HDC）的工作，仍然缺乏伦理标准。这些已故个体的收藏是在 19 世纪末至 20 世纪中期创建的，当时的解剖学法律针对的是社会边缘化群体，允许在没有这些个体同意的情况下对其进行解剖。由于这些收藏与个体相关的大量信息可供研究人员使用，因此这些收藏一直是 21 世纪生物人类学理论和方法发展的基础资源。认识到需要制定涉及 HDC 的研究、教学和培训、社区参与和策展的伦理准则，我们于 2021 年 11 月 15 日至 17 日举办了一次名为“生物人类学策展、研究和教学的伦理未来”的研讨会。在这里，我们总结了研讨会参与者在这些主题上的对话和主要共识点，以便更广泛地在该领域推进这些伦理考虑。
