This book examines repatriation processes beyond political and legal debates. Pushing against institutional constraints, the Repatriates Collective opens up new perspectives on cultural heritage and demonstrates how art can actively pave the way for restitution.Bringing together community members and long-standing collaborators, the Repatriates Collective is united by a steadfast political commitment to restitution projects in Australia, Benin, Mexico, Nigeria, and Namibia. The voi...

Indigenous peoples have long sought the return of ancestral human remains and associated artifacts from western museums and scientific institutions. Since the late 1970s their efforts have led museum curators and researchers to re-evaluate their practices and policies in respect to the scientific uses of human remains. New partnerships have been established between cultural and scientific institutions and indigenous communities. Human remains and culturally significant objects have been re...

Adopting an interdisciplinary focus, The Great Laboratory of Humanity. Collection, Patrimony and the Repatriation of Human Remains presents a variety of perspectives on the acquisition, circulation and treatment of human remains: From the practices of colonial collecting and their monumentalizing use in the epoch of nation-building, until the present-day repatriation movement instigated by Indigenous communities. The two parts of the book—Collections and Patrimony: evidence-bo...