The Marginalized in Death: A Forensic Anthropology of Intersectional Identity in the Modern Era

Forensic anthropology has the potential to shed light on important and persistent social issues, but few have taken a step back to consider how and why people become forensic cases. This volume challenges forensic anthropologists to reflect on how they can use their toolkit and databases to address larger social issues and quandaries.

Format: Hardback
Length: 372 pages
Publication date: 15 September 2022
Publisher: Lexington Books

Forensic anthropology and cultural anthropology have traditionally approached the study of the dead in distinct ways, focusing on different aspects of the deceased and their cultural context. However, this volume seeks to bridge the gap between these two disciplines by highlighting the potential for interdisciplinary scholarship. As applied disciplines that deal with some of the most marginalized people in our society, forensic anthropologists have the potential to shed light on important and persistent social issues that we face today. While forensic anthropologists have successfully pursued research agendas primarily focused on the development of individual biological profiles, time since death, recovery, and identification, few have taken a step back from their lab bench to consider how and why people become forensic cases or place their work in a larger theoretical context. This volume challenges forensic anthropologists to reflect on how we can use our toolkit and databases to address larger social issues and quandaries that we face in a world where some are spared from becoming forensic anthropology cases and others are not. As witnesses to violence, crimes against humanity, and the embodied consequences of structural violence, we have the opportunity—and arguably, the responsibility—to transcend the traditional medico-legal confines of our small sub-discipline by synthesizing forensic anthropology casework into theoretically grounded social science with potentially transformative impacts at a global scale.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781666923094