University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses July 2016 A Conflict of Interest? Negotiating Agendas, Ethics, and Consequences Regarding the Heritage Value of Human Remains Heidi J. Bauer-Clapp University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Bauer-Clapp, Heidi J., "A Conflict of Interest? Negotiating Agendas, Ethics, and Consequences Regarding the Heritage Value of Human Remains" (2016). Doctoral Dissertations. 643. https://doi.org/10.7275/8431228.0 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/643 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A CONFLICT OF INTEREST? NEGOTIATING AGENDAS, ETHICS, AND CONSEQUENCES REGARDING THE HERITAGE VALUE OF HUMAN REMAINS A Dissertation Presented by HEIDI J. BAUER-CLAPP Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2016 Anthropology © Copyright by Heidi J. Bauer-Clapp 2016 All Rights Reserved A CONFLICT OF INTEREST? NEGOTIATING AGENDAS, ETHICS, AND CONSEQUENCES REGARDING THE HERITAGE VALUE OF HUMAN REMAINS A Dissertation Presented by HEIDI J. BAUER-CLAPP Approved as to style and content by: _______________________________________ Elizabeth S. Chilton, Chair _______________________________________ Whitney Battle-Baptiste, Member _______________________________________ Marla R. Miller, Member _______________________________________ Ventura R. Pérez, Member _______________________________________ Jacqueline Urla, Member ____________________________________ Jacqueline Urla, Department Head Department of Anthropology DEDICATION For Jason and Eli ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the support, encouragement, and assistance of a number of people, for which I am extremely grateful. Thank you to my advisor, Elizabeth Chilton, for her patient guidance; she allowed me to see what I was capable of and pushed me to achieve those goals. Ventura Pérez took me on as his first graduate student and gave me the confidence to pursue a dissertation project that was bigger and further afield than either of us imagined. He was also gracious enough to let me go when it became apparent that someone else was in a better position to serve as my primary advisor. Whitney Battle-Baptiste has a knack for providing a kind word or encouraging feedback when I need it most. She, along with Elizabeth Chilton, also provide inspiring examples of how to be strong leaders, academics, and parents. Jaqueline Urla was instrumental in helping me shift from being a bioarchaeologist to a cultural anthropologist. Her enthusiasm for this dissertation project helped me keep going when the task seemed too big to handle. Marla Miller helped me expand the scope of this project; she, along with the rest of my committee, challenged me to consider the contributions I was making to the community in which I worked. H. Martin Wobst and Matt Ouellett served on my Ph.D. guidance committee and helped shape this project in its early stages. I am particularly grateful for Martin’s steadfast focus on ethics. He, along with Robert Paynter and Rae Gould, inspired me to keep ethics and community at the heart of my work. Neil Silberman was an enthusiastic early supporter of my interest in dark tourism and was instrumental in conceptualizing this project at its beginning. v I am also grateful to other members of my department for giving me the energy and encouragement to keep going: the ever-inspiring office staff, Shelley Silva, Grace Rock, Lisa Wegiel, and Debbie Averill; faculty members Krista Harper, Tom Leatherman, Lynnette Leidy Sievert, Alan Swedlund, and Sonya Atalay; and graduate students (past and present) Katie Kirakosian, Milena Marchesi, Linda Ziegenbein, Liz Braun, Alanna Rudzik, Quentin Lewis, Robin Gray, Valerie Joseph, Siobhan Hart, Angela Labrador, Boone Shear, Dana Johnson, Broughton Anderson, Julie Woods, Adam Zimmer, Julie Skogsberg, Donna Moody, Bonnie Newsom, Anthony Martin, and Chris Sweetapple. I am particularly grateful to my CHESS cohort, Sarah Reedy, Seda Saluk, Lauren Woodard, and Alyssa Grahame—from discussing serious methodological or theoretical issues to a much needed laugh, your support was invaluable. Special thanks to Sarah and Alyssa for sharing my vision that fieldwork while parenting is good for us and good for our kids. Thank you to my colleagues in the UMass Graduate School for supporting me in so many ways, particularly Alysia Birkholz, Shana Passonno, and Dean John McCarthy and my amazing fellow dissertators Kathleen Baldwin and Colleen Smith. My original interest in anthropology was inspired by Barbara O’Connell at Hamline University and later nurtured by Kate Blue and Paul Brown at Minnesota State University Mankato—I thank them for providing such a strong foundation for this work. While in the field I received an inspiring amount of help and support. Thank you to Andrew Pearson for his generosity in sharing information about the St. Helena excavations. I am grateful to Richard Benjamin and the staff of the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool for taking me in and providing access to their resources, vi collections, and visitors. Ann Chin of the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project provided helpful suggestions for the work in did in St. Helena’s schools. I also received valuable assistance and, at time, hospitality, from the following in the UK: David Young, Colin Fox, Ian Mathieson, and the Friends of St. Helena; Lila Oliver; Delmaree Stevens and family; Karina Baldwin and family; Sarah Musk; Lord David Shutt and family; Joyce Watson and family; Andrew and Jean Gurr; Phillip Camble; the St. Helena Government UK Representative’s Office; Sila Sahin, Eddie Palmer, and the St. Helena division of the UK’s Department for International Development; Johnny Clingham, Simon Pipe, and those who bring news of St. Helena to the world; Kate Robson Brown and the EuroTAST Network; and Martin Skelley and the Uniform crew. St. Helena is a place of generosity and hospitality, which made doing fieldwork 8,000 miles from home more enjoyable than I could have imagined. Mrs. J. Patsy Flagg made me feel as if I had a family when I was so far away from my own. Mrs. Joyce Oliver was an enthusiastic friend and supporter from the first moment I met her. Councillor Christine Scipio-O’Dean works harder than anyone I know and still found time for me and my project. Thanks to the teachers and Heads of School for each of St. Helena’s four schools for allowing me to work with your students and a huge thank you to the inspiring and enthusiastic students I had the privilege to work with. It was a happy accident that one of my visits to St. Helena overlapped with that of Dan Yon, a St. Helenian who is now an anthropologist; I thank him for his questions, comments, and insights. I am also grateful to Basil and Barbara George; Lucy, Adam, and Liz at the St. Helena Museum; Tony and Di Leo; Colin and Monica Yon and family; Fr. Dale Bowers; Ian Rummery; Lawson Henry; Pat Musk; Ethel Yon; the late Stedson George; Cathy vii Hopkins; Cliff and Delia Huxtable; Nick Thorpe; Sharon and Darrin Henry; Giselle Richards; Pamela Young; Faith Bowers; Chris Hillman, Jeremy Harris, and the St. Helena National Trust; Cathy Alberts and St. Helena Tourism; Janet Lawrence and the Air Access Office; Governor Mark Capes, Chief Secretary Roy Burke and the St. Helena Government; the staff of the St. Helena Archives; and Susan O’Bey and Enterprise St. Helena. Special thanks to my RMS St. Helena traveling crew Martin Hannah, Jill Key, Alistair Smith, and Morgan Riley. I am forever grateful to those who cared for my son, both while I was doing fieldwork and while I was writing my dissertation. Particular thanks to Candace Chouinard who embraced my big adventure along with me and helped my son share it with his friends. I save my biggest thanks for the family and friends whose support and love originated long before this project. Everyone needs friends like Jen Thorson and April Riordan. They, along with Scott Tonneson, Simon Riordan, Kate and Grant Weeks, Tony Smith, Jeff Nelson, Karla Lien, Sarah Leschinsky, Jay and Laura Matter, and Erika Fisher form the best cheering squad. My grandparents Don and Irma Bauer and Al and Betty Morey provide a loving foundation for our family network; my many amazing aunts, uncles, and cousins within this network provide support in so many ways. I am especially grateful to my aunt Anne Winkler-Morey for showing me what is possible through hard work and perseverance. My aunt Susan Homolka deserves more thanks than I am capable of for her love and support and for being the best traveling companion and research assistant I could have hoped for. viii Chad, Laura, Cora, and Mason Bauer; Cindy, Nathaniel, and Liam Windau; Holly and Zach Bauer-Fenhaus; and Troy Bauer provide love and encouragement on this and so many other thing. I am especially grateful to Holly Bauer-Fenhaus for her editorial eye and much-needed honesty and perspective. My in-laws Tom and Karen Clapp enthusiastically support me, my work, and my choices, for which I am so grateful. My parents, Nancy and Randy Bauer, provide unconditional love, which makes me feel as if anything is possible. This dissertation is a testament to their love and support. To my son, Eli, I wish a lifetime of adventures and pursuit of your dreams. You have inspired me in ways I cannot even express, and being able to share a portion of my fieldwork time with you is one of the greatest joys of my life.