Department of Archaeology and Ancient History Ethical perspectives and cultural differences regarding repatriation and management of human skeletal remains – Rapa Nui case study Olivia Gustafsson Picture taken by Olivia Gustafsson. Master’s thesis 45 hp in Archaeology Autumn 2020 Main supervisor: Helene Martinsson-Wallin Assistant supervisor: Sabine Sten and Carl-Gösta Ojala Uppsala University Campus Gotland “Do you really need to know everything?” -Mom & Dad Gustafsson, O. 2020. Etiska perspektiv och kulturella skillnader inom repatriering och hantering av mänskliga kvarlevor – en fallstudie på Påskön. Gustafsson, O. 2020. Ethical perspectives and cultural differences regarding repatriation and management of human skeletal remains – Rapa Nui case study. Abstract Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is an island in the Pacific Ocean which has been colonised over a long period of time. Colonisers have exploited the island through looting and trading Rapanui (the Indigenous people) human skeletal remains. Around ninety percent of the stolen Rapanui human skeletal remains have been located at museums and collections around the world on Rapanui initiative. Through the Rapa Nui Ka Haka Hoki Mi Ate Mana Tupuna Repatriation Program the Rapanui are now working on the return of the alienated human skeletal remains to the Island. This thesis is an analysis of semi structured interviews with inhabitants on Rapa Nui involved in repatriation and ethics of human skeletal remains. It has been carried out through a qualitative method using semi-structured interviews together with participant observation. The thesis is part of Martinsson-Wallin´s STINT-project ‘Sustainable Visits in Rapa Nui – Glocal Perspectives’. Based on the interviews, the analysis and results are divided into five themes: I) treatment of human skeletal remains, II) what laws exists in treating human skeletal remains, III) the possibility to narrow laws and concretize ethical perspectives before and during a repatriation, IV) theories in post-colonialism and V) recurrent issues between the law of the Indigenous peoples and the national law. Comparison with other cases of repatriation such as Sámi follows in Chapter 7. The results of the analysis show that according to the Rapanui, archaeological artefacts and human skeletal remains should be repatriated. Today the involved parties, the Rapanui and the institutions that are keeping collections from Indigenous cultures, are more willing to redress previous events. Such as, colonialization, violence, and social inequality but there is still a lot of respect and understanding that must be developed within several actors. Keywords: Repatriation, ethics, Indigenous, Rapa Nui, and post-colonialism. Abstrakt Rapa Nui (Påskön) är en ö som tillhör Chile och är lokaliserad i Stilla Havet. Under flera århundranden har Rapanui blivit utsatta för kolonialism. Upptäcktsresare och forskare har anlänt till ön med ett syfte att stjäla och sedan sälja eller byta bort de artefakter och mänskliga kvarlevor som de har kommit över. Ungefär 90 % av alla mänskliga kvarlevor som stals från Rapa Nui under de olika upptäcktsresarna har nu lokaliserats på de museum de nu vilar i. Detta har i sin tur lett till att Rapanui kämpar med att repatriera samtliga mänskliga kvarlevor genom ’The Rapa Nui Ka Haka Hoki Mi Ate Mana Tupuna Repatriation Program’, vilket är ett repatrieringsprogram där involverade hjälper och stöttar invånarna av Rapa Nui att få tillbaka sina förfäder. Under forskningen skedde semi-strukturerade intervjuer av lokalbefolkning samt med de människor som är närmast i hela repatrieringsprocessen. Tillsammans med en kvalitativ metod och genom att ha tagit del av aktiviteter på Rapa Nui, samt medverkat i intervjuer inom Helene Martinsson-Wallins forskningsprojekt STINT, ’Sustainable Visits in Rapa Nui’. Med jämförelsestudier med ytterligare kulturer som Sámi, har denna forskning utförts. Baserat på intervjuerna delades analysen och diskussionen in i fem teman: I) Behandlingen av mänskliga kvarlevor, II) Vilka lagar finns vid hantering av mänskliga kvarlevor, III) Möjligheten att konkretisera lagar och etiska perspektiv innan och efter en repatriering, IV) Post-kolonialistiska teorier och V) Pågående problematik med lagar hos ursprungsbefolkningen och de nationella lagar. Arkeologiska artefakter och mänskliga kvarlevor borde repatrieras, enligt ursprungsbefolkningen på Rapa Nui. Aktörer idag är mer villiga att ta hänsyn till vad dessa individer och deras kultur har blivit utsatta för tidigare, kolonialismen, våldsamma händelser, icke jämställt bemötande, det är en lång väg kvar och en utökad respekt behöver utvecklas. Nyckelord: Repatriering, etik, Ursprungsbefolkning, Rapa Nui och post-kolonialism. Master´s thesis 45 hp in Archaeology. Main supervisor: Helene Martinsson-Wallin. Assistant supervisor: Sabine Sten and Carl-Gösta Ojala. Defended and passed 2020–10–23. © Olivia Gustafsson Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, Campus Gotland, Cramérgatan 3, 621 67 Visby, Sweden. Preface My previous studies have been about human skeletal remains from the prehistory of Gotland Island. In my bachelor I made an osteological study on human skeletal remains of the executed individuals of Galgberget in Visby, a site mainly used as an executing place during the medieval time on Gotland, Sweden. I focused on the executional marks on the skeletal human remains and identified what wounds in connected to which weapon and way of execution. I planned to develop this further during my master’s thesis. While visiting the Rapa Nui (Easter Island) participating in an ongoing study, I decided that the ethical point of view on how archaeologists, like myself, handle human skeletal remains is more interesting. I was intrigued by how the Rapanui talked about their heritage and connection to their ancestors. They made me realize the importance of understanding different cultures and their ethical perspectives of human skeletal remains. The inspiration from these people made me change my thesis topic into immersing on what is important for the Rapanui, but also what to think of as an osteologist and archaeologist while managing human skeletal remains around the world. During November 2019, I got the opportunity to do an internship on Rapa Nui as a part of the project of Professor Helene Martinsson-Wallin, ‘research project Sustainable Visits in Rapa Nui- Glocal Perspectives’. The purpose was to assist with interviews of different actors somehow involved in tourism and heritage management. I got in contact with the Indigenous people of Rapa Nui, who had started a project about repatriation of human skeletal remains, primarily the human skeletal remains that have been alienated from the island in the connections of the Europeans and South American colonialism. Several actors take part in every repatriation and a sacred room for the repatriated human remains, called Hare Tapu Tu’u Ivi, has been created at the local Museum (Museo Antropologico Padre Sebastian Englert) Hare Tapu is only available for the Indigenous people but in spite of that, I got the opportunity to visit the ancestors in Hare Tapu together with Participant 1 and for that I am truly grateful. Acknowledgement Thank you, Professor Helene Martinsson-Wallin and Professor Sabine Sten for your supervision and guidance through this thesis. Thank you, Dr. Carl-Gösta Ojala, for stepping in at the end of the thesis with great supervision and encouragement so I could finish. Thank you, all five participants for sharing your culture and answering my questions. Thank you Amy van der Zee, for sending your transcription of participant four. The fantastic people I met on Rapa Nui during the internship and for the support and new friendships that were created. Maururu Isaias Hey y Mattarena Tuki Haoa y tu familia, por las aventuras, una cálida bienvenida en su isla, por tu ayuda y las conversaciones interesantes. My parents, Annika Gustafsson and Jan Gustafsson for reading and supervise me through this thesis and for the great support during all five years. My sister, for always being supportive and a great brainstormer. I would like to thank Alexander Brandt for reading and questioning my thesis and for all the support meanwhile. Thank you. Hanna Sjöberg, Adam Engvall and Emilia Theidz for a big support and amazing years on Gotland. Thank you Elfrida Östlund and Anton Uvelius for the encouragement through all rough times and for the great support and help with the thesis. Thank you, Marije Poort, for reading and commenting my thesis, and for encouraging me on Rapa Nui to follow my dreams and being a fantastic roommate. Thank you, Maja Barnfield, for your fantastic support and encouragement during this thesis. Thank you Emmelie Bengtsson and Linda Nilsson for lending me your books, they were a great help during the whole thesis. A huge gratitude to all my amazing friends for always being supportive. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................2 1.1 Purpose and aims ..........................................................................................................2 1.2 Materials and demarcation ............................................................................................3 1.3 Method .........................................................................................................................3 1.4 Source criticism and ethical perspectives ......................................................................3
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