Whose humanitarianism, whose forensic anthropology?
Reframing forensic anthropology's responsibility to recognize the continuum of violence stands to influence approaches to local and international casework, research, and public outreach. Drawing on their research and experiences around burial sites in Uganda's war in Acholiland, the mass institutionalization and anonymous burials of people labeled mentally ill and disabled in the United States, and Canada's genocide in Indian Country using a system of assimilatory forced displacement in a residential school system, the authors move beyond dichotomous notions of humanitarian or human rights anthropology and expand the bounds of meaningful and thoughtful forensic practice. In doing so, they acknowledge the transformation that forensic humanitarian action and its many diverse practitioners have brought to forensic anthropology and human rights activism. The authors focus on the idea that violence against the remains impacts the living, the dead, and the scenarios in which the tangible remains necessitate action among the living.
