Resumen

SARDI, Marina L; RECA, María M  y  PUCCIARELLI, Héctor M. Debates y decisiones políticas en torno de la exhibición de restos humanos en el Museo de La Plata. Rev Arg Antrop Biol [online]. 2015, vol.17, n.2, pp.1-8. ISSN 1514-7991.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17139/raab.2015.0017.02.04.

Since some decades, aboriginal communities have been demanding to the Museo de La Plata that human remains be restored to the communities they belong to and removed from public exhibition. Regulations that recognize the rights of indigenous people, together with debates within the academic community, have contributed to the development of institutional policies on the treatment and care of human remains. The goal of this work is to present the events, debates and decisions related to the modes of exhibition of human remains in the Museum de La Plata. The main shift occurred in 2006 when it was decided that all mummies and skeletal parts belonging to American aborigines must be removed from exhibition. It was also considered necessary that the institution put up messages conveying these political decisions to visitors. The curation of the new exhibition is based on human evolution and includes a sector devoted to reflection on the meaning of the practices and representations about death and the dead, the scientific value of the study of human remains, and the rights of the communities to claim bodies.

Palabras clave : policies; aboriginal communities; visitors; museum.

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