Investigating the acquisition of Indigenous human remains from Australia and the Pacific in Russian collections
Presented by Hilary Howes (Australian National University), and part of the UWA Archaeology Seminar Series.
Collections of human remains resulting from Western scientific activity over the past three centuries years have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years. Indigenous communities worldwide have been calling for the repatriation of their ancestors from such collections since at least the 1960s and have achieved significant success to date. However, almost nothing is known about Russian holdings of human remains for the purposes of anthropological investigation. This seminar introduces the ARC DECRA project ‘Skulls for the Tsar’, which aims to produce the first detailed investigation of the acquisition of Indigenous human remains from Australia, New Zealand and the broader Pacific by the Russian Empire during the long 19th century. Expected outcomes include a better understanding of Russian perceptions of Indigenous peoples and the development of a new way of writing histories about the collecting of Indigenous human remains. Working directly with affected communities, this project should provide significant benefits to Indigenous peoples seeking the return of their ancestors’ remains from overseas institutions.
Biography: Hilary Howes is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies at The Australian National University. Her research to date addresses the German-speaking tradition within anthropology and archaeology, focusing on Austrian, German, Russian and Swiss collectors and collecting in Australia and the Pacific region during the long 19th century. She is currently working on Cressida Fforde's ARC Discovery project ‘Heritage and Reconciliation’ and in May 2021 will commence her ARC DECRA project ‘Skulls for the Tsar: Indigenous Human Remains in Russian Collections’. From 2015 to 2020 she was a Postdoctoral Fellow on Matthew Spriggs’ ARC Laureate Fellowship project ‘The Collective Biography of Archaeology in the Pacific: A Hidden History’. Prior to that she was employed at the Australian Embassy in Berlin, where her responsibilities included facilitating the repatriation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestral remains from German collecting institutions.
When: 5-6pm AEST, Friday 21 May 2021
Where: Online via Zoom
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/week-10-skulls-for-the-tsar-tickets-143082416359
Image caption: Māori perform a haka as Russians arrive at a fishing settlement in New Zealand’s Queen Charlotte Sound in mid-1820. Artist: Pavel Mikhailov (public domain).