Biology, Culture and Social Justice in Latin America: Perspectives from Forensic Anthropology

This course will only take place in the first 5 weeks of the quarter.As forensic anthropologists, we are routinely asked to make identifications of unknown human remains and provide courtroom testimony. Latin America has become a nexus for social justice work, as we respond to the humanitarian crisis along the U.S.-México Border. To improve identification methods of the undocumented dead, we must understand the diversity in Latinx people and adopt best scientific practices. This course provides a cross-disciplinary, bio-cultural approach to Latin American variation and training in applied methods of forensic anthropology. Explore how tools of biological and cultural anthropology are used jointly in human rights investigation and social justice advancement. Discover the breadth of Latinx diversity and how historical, geographic, and socio-cultural factors shape this variation. Gain hands-on experience in case analysis, using skeletal, genetic, and recovery context information to estimate key parameters of identity. Use case studies to contextualize this work through an intersectional lens that attends to the living families and the applicable historical, geo-political and socio-cultural conditions.