Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

Document Type

Article

Anticipated Volume

96

Anticipated Issue

1

Abstract

Forensic anthropologists working in university laboratories are often curators of long-term unidentified human remains cases. Here, we review how and why anthropologists can effectively move toward case resolution by drawing on literature and collaborative best practices from the field of social work. Borrowing from the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) standards for case management, we detail five standards that can be effectively followed during the forensic anthropological case investigation to ensure culturally sensitive and victim-centered approaches to human identification. While the field of forensic anthropology has its own professional standards developed through a consensus body and shared governance, these standards cannot address all the issues inherent in doing long-term unidentified remains casework in academic laboratories. By borrowing useful standardized NASW procedures (with its focus on improving the lives of living people), we outline how we can improve standards of care and service for deceased individuals in our laboratories. Using case studies from anthropology laboratories in the northeast, midwest, and west that are directed by anthropologists tasked with identification and/or curation of archaeological, historical, anatomical, and forensic cases, we offer collaborative strategies for resource-constrained institutions. As current debates about bodily autonomy, antemortem consent, and ethical treatment of the dead continue to (re)define how anthropologists interact with the individual remains in their care, we offer one potential path forward by exploring how our work can be more deeply understood and enacted by positioning ourselves as “social workers for the deceased.”

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