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The Impact and Effectiveness of the Human Tissue Act and the Guidance for the Care of Human Remains in English Museums

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The Impact and Effectiveness of the Human Tissue Act and the Guidance for the Care of Human Remains in English Museums Giving Up the Dead: The Impact and Effectiveness of the Human Tissue Act and the Guidance for the Care of Human Remains in English Museums Liz White Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Arts and Cultures, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK November 2011 Abstract This thesis explores the impact and effectiveness of Human Tissue Act 2004 (HTAct ) and the Guidance for the Care of Human Remains in Museums (Guidance ) upon museums in England and the human remains housed within those museums. Whilst the HTAct is a piece of legislation targeted primarily at the medical profession, two sections are pertinent to museums. Firstly, Section 16 legislates for the establishment of mandatory licensing for various activities involving human remains; including the storage and display of human remains under 100 years old. Secondly, Section 47 gives nine national museums previously bound by the British Museum Act 1963, the power to de-accession human remains under 1000 years old from their collections. Conversely, the Guidance is a document developed by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in order to guide Section 47 affected museums and other institutions holding human remains through the growing number of requests to repatriate human remains and to offer a set of best practice recommendations relating more generally to the treatment of human remains. In order to understand the impact and effectiveness of the HTAct and the Guidance , an England-wide museum survey was undertaken; the results of which form the basis of this research. Museum responses to this survey would seem to indicate that, other than financially, the HTAct has had little impact upon museums and that, two years after the publication of the Guidance , many museums had still not implemented its best practice recommendations. Indeed, despite the HTAct and the Guidance , results indicate that there are still a number of unresolved issues relating to the treatment of human remains in English museums. i Acknowledgements The long journey of writing this thesis has been possible only with the guidance and support of many people to which I am greatly indebted. Aron Mazel, my supervisor, has provided unfaltering support in terms of guidance, advice, understanding and interest. He has also continued to inject some much-needed humour and provided welcome distractions throughout the duration of my research and the writing of this thesis, for which I am extremely grateful. Thank you also to Myra Giesen, my second supervisor, for her helpful comments and insights. I am indebted to staff at the 157 museums who took part in the survey that forms the basis of this research as without them, the writing of this thesis would not have been possible. Thanks also to those individuals who did not take part in the survey, but who provided extremely helpful comments based on their own experiences and on the experiences of their own museums. Thanks also to staff in the Historical Studies School Office and those academic staff in Historical Studies who have demonstrated their interest, support and understanding during my time working there. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their unfailing support and understanding; my father Gordon, my late mother Betty, my sister Debbie and most importantly, my husband Vic, as without his understanding and support, this thesis would not have been possible. ii Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... ii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. viii List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. x List of Acronyms ......................................................................................................................... xiii List of Appendices ....................................................................................................................... xv List of Supplementary Documents on disk ................................................................................. xvi Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 The origins of an ethical dilemma .......................................................................................... 2 1.3 Research context ................................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Data collection and sources consulted .................................................................................. 6 1.5 Research question ................................................................................................................. 7 1.6 Aims and objectives ............................................................................................................... 7 1.7 Organization of thesis ............................................................................................................ 8 Chapter 2: Methodology ......................................................................................................... 10 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 10 2.2 Quantitative versus qualitative methodologies ................................................................... 10 2.3 Phase I: Interviews ............................................................................................................... 12 2.4 Phase II: Initial data collection and contact ........................................................................ 14 2.4.1 Initial museum contact ................................................................................................. 15 2.5 Phase III: The Guidance questionnaire (White Survey I) ...................................................... 16 2.6 Phase IV: Human Tissue Authority Public Display survey (White Survey II) ......................... 21 2.7 Phase V: Analysis of data ..................................................................................................... 23 2.8 Research limitations ............................................................................................................ 24 iii Chapter 3: International responses to indigenous concern ....................................................... 26 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 26 3.2 Battle for the bones ............................................................................................................. 27 3.3 Legislation ............................................................................................................................ 29 3.4 Changes in archaeological practice ...................................................................................... 33 3.5 Indigenous human remains in museums ............................................................................. 35 3.6 Repatriation ......................................................................................................................... 37 3.6.1 International repatriation of human remains ............................................................... 40 3.7 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................... 43 Chapter 4: Human remains in England – changing attitudes and responses .............................. 45 4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 45 4.2 Different values ................................................................................................................... 46 4.2.1 Religious and spiritual beliefs ....................................................................................... 46 4.3 Different treatments ............................................................................................................ 49 4.3.1 The Hunterian Museum ................................................................................................ 49 4.3.2 Body Worlds ................................................................................................................. 51 4.4 Responses to concerns for the dead .................................................................................... 55 4.4.1 Archaeology and the law .............................................................................................. 59 4.4.2 Human remains in English archaeology ........................................................................ 61 4.4.3 Guidance for Best Practice for treatment of human remains excavated from Christian burial grounds in England ........................................................................................................ 61 4.5 The Human Tissue Act 2004 (HTAct) ..................................................................................
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