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Accepted Paper:

Identifying the missing: marrying forensic and social anthropology in the investigation of human rights violations in Guatemala and Afghanistan  
Gillian Fowler (University of Lincoln) Marco Pérez (University of Lincoln)

Paper short abstract:

This presentation will compare the contribution that forensic and social anthropology has made to truth seeking in both countries, comparing the work of anthropologists in Guatemala, a post conflict country, and Afghanistan, a country currently at war.

Paper long abstract:

The armed conflict in Guatemala raged for 36 years during which 200,000 people were killed or disappeared by a succession of military dictators with many more people being displaced. The armed conflict has been ongoing in Afghanistan for more than three decades and the Afghan population has been subjected to violence and repression committed by a variety of different groups with conflicting beliefs and cultures. The only constant in the lives of the Afghan people has been violence and repression. In this current climate, a group of Afghans are being trained as forensic and social anthropologists and are beginning to investigate human rights violations.

Forensic and social anthropology have played an integral role in the reconciliation process by searching for the truth in Guatemala and Afghanistan. Since 1992, exhumations have taken place all over Guatemala, and over 5,000 victims have been exhumed, identified and then returned to their families for a dignified burial; in Afghanistan it is only just beginning. The advances in DNA technology have made it possible to attempt the identification of mass graves in both countries; however the lack of a formal society during wartime hampers positive identifications being made. The work of the social anthropologist has been paramount to the identification process working to recover individual and collective memories of the events that took place, memorializing the victims and empowering their families, and mourning the loss as a nation.

Panel P09
Forensic anthropology and its global impact on society
  Session 1