Derek Congram
University of Toronto, Munk School of Global Affairs, Lecturer, Peace, Conflict & Justice; Research Affiliate, Global Justice Lab
I am an archaeologist and anthropologist and my teaching, research and applied focus is on archaeology/anthropology in humanitarian and medico-legal contexts. I have worked for universities, governments, non-governmental and international organizations in more than 20 countries. My primary research interests include spatial analysis of disappeared persons, ethical research and practice, Spanish Civil War (bio)archaeology, and transitional justice. I advocate an approach that puts victim families at the center of investigations.
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Papers by Derek Congram
people, such as historians hunting through archives, biological anthropologists reconstructing skeletons,
and psychologists preparing investigators to interview families of the disappeared. Uniting the voices of
22 experts from around the world, Derek Congram’s collection of original papers centres its attention
on those who are engaged in the location, identification, and repatriation of missing persons. The
contributors to this timely volume represent multiple disciplines and various fields, including academia,
government, and civil service, but are connected by a shared conviction that accounting for the missing
is vital for a just society.
The chapters concentrate on victims of physical or structural violence, including armed conflict,
repressive regimes, criminal behaviour, and racist and colonial policies towards Indigenous persons
and minority populations. Some contexts are familiar — morgues, mass graves, and battlefields — while
others are surprising, such as schoolyards and a museum in Canada. Although the circumstances of
the disappearances vary greatly, Missing Persons illustrates the connections between these disparate
contexts. Multidisciplinary in scope, this edited collection is a valuable comparative resource for
students, academics, and practitioners in forensic anthropology, anthropological/archaeological ethics,
forensic psychology, criminal justice, and human rights.
Mais quel impact a réellement la chronologie sur la discipline ? Doit-on considérer que l’archéologie se limite à des bornes chronologiques strictes ? Quand et pourquoi dit-on que l’on entre dans des périodes dites archéologiques ?
Ce ne sont là que quelques-unes des questions que se sont posées les auteurs de cet ouvrage collectif.
Universitaires, archéologues préventifs, spécialistes variés, doctorants ou professeurs, de nationalités multiples, participent à cette réflexion, offrant ainsi un aspect de la pensée archéologique actuelle et invitant le lecteur à réfléchir sur la définition même de l’archéologie.
Plus d'infos : http://www.editions-fedora.com/#!product-page/e2g44/57873713-8a73-9ec6-877f-929db456e769
Abstract Techniques of forensic archaeology have been in practice for decades , particularly in Latin American, but only recently has it started to mature as a formal scientific sub-discipline. This chapter briefly describes the development of forensic archaeology and its current status as a discipline and applied science. We then discuss basic concepts that are critical to the application of archaeological methods at forensic scenes, exemplifying these with cases. Building from this, we address the most common focus of archaeology to forensic investigation: the search for and excavation of clandestine graves. We finish the chapter with a brief discussion of archaeological interpretation, which is an underdeveloped aspect of forensic archaeology and which we believe is critical to the most complete, accurate understanding of evidence and which we hope will become a routine part of future forensic investigation.
Palabras clave: antropología forense, arqueología forense, justicia, verdad, violencia en masa.
Forensic Practices and Mass Violence: Contemporary Perspectives and Research Challenges
Abstract: We already have forty years of experience in Latin America in the application of anthropology and forensic archaeology to the search for missing persons and investigations of gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. Despite this long trajectory of very important work, the most striking protagonists of meta-analysis in the forensic work literature and its impact in recent years have not been the forensic scientists themselves, but social scientists. This article introduces the dossier “Forensic Practices and Mass Violence: Contemporary Perspectives and Research Challenges,” a work that brings together practitioners —including relatives of the missing— with academic researchers, breaking down a structural, social and artificial divide. The joining of forces between academics and practitioners better reflects the work as a whole that includes and highlights the goals concerning search, recovery, analysis, and identification, but also those concerning restitution. This introduction emphasizes debates that are absent in many forensic science journals: the impact of politics on research and the political product of research, although we still have debates about questions of objectivity, neutrality, and the value of a family-driven or family-involved approach. In this dossier, we examine the adaptation and evolution of the discipline from its particular Latin American form, both in the different expressions it has taken in the region and in the way it has been expressed in the work of Latin American professionals in foreign cases such as that of the former Yugoslavia.
Keywords: Forensic anthropology, forensic archaeology, justice, mass violence, truth.
Práticas forenses e violência em massa: perspectivas contemporâneas e desafios para a pesquisa
Resumo: já temos 40 anos de experiência na América Latina na aplicação da antropologia e da arqueologia forenses para buscar pessoas desaparecidas e para as investigações de violações graves de direitos humanos e do direito humanitário internacional. Embora essa longa trajetória de trabalho seja muito importante, os protagonistas mais impactantes da metanálise na literatura do trabalho forense e seu impacto nos últimos anos não vêm sendo os cientistas forenses em si, mas sim os cientistas sociais. Este artigo introduz o dossiê “Práticas forenses e violência em massa: perspectivas contemporâneas e desafios para a pesquisa”, um trabalho que une os praticantes — incluídos os familiares dos desaparecidos — com pesquisadores, quebrando com uma divisão estrutural, social e artificial. Essa força unida entre acadêmicos e praticantes reflete melhor o trabalho em sua totalidade, que inclui e ressalta as metas não somente de busca, recuperação, análise e identificação, mas também de restituição e entrega. Esta introdução enfatiza os debates que estão ausentes em muitas das revistas científico-forenses: o impacto da política sobre as investigações e o produto político destas. Além disso, salienta as discussões ainda presentes sobre questões de objetividade, neutralidade e o valor de uma abordagem que envolve ou é dirigida por familiares. Neste dossiê, vemos uma adaptação e evolução da disciplina sob sua forma particular latino-americana, tanto das diferentes expressões que vem tendo na região quanto na maneira em que vem se expressando no trabalho de profissionais latino-americanos em casos internacionais, como o da antiga Iugoslávia.
Palavras-chave: antropologia forense, arqueologia forense, justiça, verdade, violência em massa.