This research will address the role of human remains collections within an ethnology museum as viewed by the museum personnel – curators, museum managers, catalog and reserve managers as well as...Show moreThis research will address the role of human remains collections within an ethnology museum as viewed by the museum personnel – curators, museum managers, catalog and reserve managers as well as education and public relations departments-. The research focuses in the specific case study of the personnel at the Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde in Leiden, The Netherlands. It has been conducted on the base of individual interviews and groups interviews with the museum personnel. The field work for this thesis took place over five months, and focused on the “Pre- Columbian mummy collection”. The aim of this research was to present a case study of what curators in the Netherlands think in regards to human remains in collections and their use in exhibits and the relation between these opinions and the institutional policies followed in regards to human remains at the Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde. The results show that personal and professional opinions of the museum personnel are closely related to museum policies and influenced by museum practices of repatriation and consultation with source communities. However, it became apparent that guidelines regarding the display an use of skeletonized human remains such as skulls and objects manufactured with human remains need to be discussed and agreed upon.Show less
