Nineteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

During ethnographical research on mass graves exhumations, I have encountered ways of treating human remains, which are controversial in the context of the contemporary tendency to individualise the remains of civil war victims and ‘restore’ their dignity. Basing on those examples, I intended to debate whether the contemporary perspective on respect for the dead and the need for exhumations is a widespread and normalised practice or rather a social exception. Ultimately I hope to start a broader debate about contemporary morality regarding remains and exhumations, especially in the context of its commonness or selectivity and social outreach.