Tamara Garino COMPLEXITIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE MANAGEMENT AND EXHIBITION OF HUMAN REMAINS IN WESTERN MUSEUMS THE ITALIAN CASE VOLUME 1 Dissertação no âmbito do Mestrado em Património Cultural e Museologia, Gestão e Programação orientada pelas Professoras Doutoras Carlota Isabel Leitão Pires Simões e Rosa Boano e apresentada ao departamento de História, Estudos Europeus, Arqueologia e Artes da Faculdade de Letras. Setembro de 2019 FACULDADE DE LETRAS COMPLEXITIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE MANAGEMENT AND EXHIBITION OF HUMAN REMAINS IN WESTERN MUSEUMS THE ITALIAN CASE Ficha Técnica Tipo de trabalho Dissertação Título Complexities and responsibilities in the management and exhibition of human remains in Western museums. Subtítulo The Italian case Autora Tamara Garino Orientadoras Carlota Isabel Leitão Pires Simões Rosa Boano Júri Presidente: Doutor João Paulo Cabral de Almeida Avelãs Nunes Vogais: Doutora Ana Luísa da Conceição dos Santos Doutora Carlota Isabel Leitão Pires Simões Identificação do Curso 2º Ciclo em Património Cultural e Museologia Área científica Museologia Especialidade/Ramo Gestão e Programação Data da defesa 27 Setembro 2019 Classificação 19 Acknowledgements I would like to thank all the people that with their expertise have contributed to the realization of this work. Without them, this work would not have been possible. Thank you to all the researchers, scholars and museum workers that have been available to discuss and share their opinion and personal experience with me. In particular I thank for their contribution, Deneb Cesana, Cinzia Oliva, Giacomo Giacobini, Gianluigi Mangiapane. Thank you to the staff of the Egyptian Museum of Turin, Paolo del Vesco, Caterina Ciccopiedi, Virginia Cimino, Paola Matossi L'Orsa and the director Christian Greco, which have invested time and resources in the realization of the visitor survey project I proposed, involving me in every phase of this process. Thank you also to Andrea Viscardi and Lorenzo Pregliasco, members of Quorum, that have been always available to share their expertise in the field of communication with the public and that made possible the implementation and realization of the survey at the Egyptian Museum of Turin. A special thanks goes to Rosa Boano who not only accompanied me throughout the process of elaboration of this work, but supported and encouraged me, facilitating the meeting and contact with the other museum institutions of Turin. Her expertise and passion for her work have been of great support and inspiration in the realization of this thesis. Thanks also to all the friends I have met in Coimbra during the Master in Cultural Heritage and Museology and that shared with me moments of hard work and leisure, helping me to fill my linguistic gaps: Fernando, Stella and Eduardo. Thanks to all the professors who allow me to deepen my knowledge in the museum studies and that gave me the opportunity to expand and increase my perspective in the museological environment. A special thanks goes to my thesis advisor Carlota Simões, who advised and helped me in the realization of this work. Last but not least, my family, which has always supported and sustained me in the difficulty and in the joyful moments and that allow me to achieve this important academic goal, thanks mum, dad, Marta and Stefano. Many thanks also to my second family, the friends of a lifetime, who helped me in moments of intense work and difficulties, giving me the moral support I needed. Finally thank you to Niccolò, who never left my side during these years and has been a fundamental support in the elaboration of this thesis. Thank you for listening my doubts, encouraging and advising me during this long period of work. ABSTRACT Complexities and responsibilities in the management and exhibition of human remains in Western museums. The Italian case. The issue related to the retention, study and exhibition of human remains acquired in the last decades an increasingly importance within the Western museum institutions. The human nature of human remains imposes nowadays a more sensitive and respectful treatment of these materials, which cannot be merely considered as objects or artifacts, but rather as once living people who, as such, deserve a particular ethical attention to their treatment and exhibition. This research investigates the main complexities raised by the management and the public display of anthropological finds within Western curatorial institutions and explores the main elements of controversy that have made them today objects of political struggle. In the light of the complexities associated with these finds, are presented, then, also the responsibilities of the museum professionals, scholars, and policy-makers who have to deal with their study, conservation and exhibition. Through a careful bibliographic analysis, participation in conferences and direct dialogue with conservators, curators and museum workers has been possible to highlight the main theoretical and practical difficulties of working with this heritage, so important from an historical, scientific and cultural point of view, but also extremely sensitive and difficult to manage. Starting from an international contextualization of the problem, this work finally focuses on the Italian case, where the lack of a legislative framework that defines and regulates the treatment of this heritage and a widespread lack of economic resources, makes very difficult to achieve a correct management and promotion of it. Through the presentation of the case study of the Egyptian Museum of Turin, we have demonstrated the importance of a change in the attitude of the contemporary museum: not only towards the heritage it preserves, but also toward the communities that it represents within it and those that visit it. With this purpose has been draft a museum visitor study aimed at evaluating the public perception of ancient human remains exhibited within the Egyptian Museum of Turin. The analysis carried out in this work has finally shown the impossibility of having a universally valid solution applicable to the different museum situations and to the different types of human artifacts preserved. Nevertheless, has clearly emerged the need for a rethinking of the museum's attitude towards the finds themselves, the communities of origin and the general public. Keywords: Human remains, Museum ethics, Anthropology, Museology, Italy RESUMO Complexidades e responsabilidades na gestão e exibição de restos humanos em museus ocidentais. O caso italiano. Nas últimas décadas o tema da retenção, do estudo e da exposição de restos humanos junto do público tem vindo a adquirir uma importância cada vez maior nas instituições museológicas ocidentais. A origem humana dos restos humanos impõe hoje em dia um tratamento mais sensível e respeitoso desses materiais, que não podem ser considerados meramente objetos ou artefatos, mas como vestígios de pessoas que um dia viveram e que, como tal, merecem uma atenção ética específica nos seus tratamento e exposição. Este trabalho investiga as principais complexidades levantadas pela gestão e pela exposição de restos antropológicos nas instituições curatoriais ocidentais e explora os principais elementos de controvérsia que os tornaram hoje objetos de luta política. À luz das complexidades associadas a esses achados, são apresentadas, também, as responsabilidades dos profissionais do museu, investigadores e decisores políticos que precisam lidar com seus estudos, conservação e exibição. Através de uma análise bibliográfica, da participação em conferências e do diálogo direto com conservadores, curadores e trabalhadores de museus tem sido possível destacar as principais dificuldades teóricas e práticas em trabalhar com esse património, tão importante do ponto de vista histórico, científico e cultural, mas também extremamente sensível e difícil de gerir. Partindo de uma contextualização internacional do problema, este trabalho foca principalmente o caso italiano, onde a falta de uma estrutura legislativa que defina e regule o tratamento desse património e uma falta generalizada de recursos económicos dificulta muito a obtenção de uma gestão e promoção correta do mesmo. Através da apresentação do caso de estudo do Museu Egípcio de Turim, demonstramos a importância de uma mudança de atitude do museu contemporâneo: não apenas em relação ao património que ele preserva, mas também no sentido das comunidades que o museu representa bem como daqueles que o visitam. Com esse objetivo, foi elaborado um estudo para visitantes do museu, para avaliar a percepção pública perante a exibição de restos humanos antigos no Museu Egípcio de Turim. A análise apresentada neste trabalho mostrou ainda a impossibilidade de criar uma solução universalmente válida aplicável às diferentes situações do museu e aos diferentes tipos de artefatos humanos preservados. Surgiu claramente, no entanto, a necessidade de repensar a atitude do museu em relação a restos humanos, às comunidades de origem destes e ao público em geral. Palavras-chave: Restos humanos, Ética em museus, Antropologia, Museologia, Itália Table of Contents Foreword ........................................................................................................................ 1 Methodology of research ................................................................................................. 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 1 Human remains