TOOLS IN THE SEARCH FOR HUMAN REMAINS Thinking Through Objects in Forensic Practices Dr. Layla Renshaw, Marina Álamo Renshaw, Álamo Bryan, Bryan,Dziuban Dr. Zuzanna Dziuban, & Moon and Dr. Claire Moon
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rom the late 20th century onward, scientific techniques of forensic investigation have been increasingly applied to cases of death and disappearance resulting from political repression, war and disaster. Forensic techniques are used to locate and recover bodies, identify the dead and reconstruct how they died. Widely reported and well-studied examples include the investigations into Latin America’s Dirty Wars, or the break-up of Yugoslavia. These large-scale forensic investigations are often associated with states rebuilding themselves after conflict, or as part of political transition, under the auspices of transnational organisations such as the United Nations. Forensics as a means of confronting disaster and atrocity have accrued strongly positive moral associations of objectivity and certainty, perceived as bringing order and emotional closure, and countering historical revisionism or impunity. Citizen forensics is the emergent phenomenon whereby laypeople, often close relatives of the dead, undertake the scientific investigation of crimes themselves, assuming investigative roles normally associated with state actors such as the police, or technical specialists and scientists. Key examples of this include the grassroots movement to exhume hundreds of Republican mass graves of the Spanish Civil War, and community-led searches for tens of thousands of abducted 9
