Digging for the Disappeared
Award Winner
2016: Outstanding Academic Title
Winner of the 2016 Outstanding Academic Title Award, sponsored by Choice.
The mass graves from our long human history of genocide, massacres, and violent conflict form an underground map of atrocity that stretches across the planet's surface. In the past few decades, due to rapidly developing technologies and a powerful global human rights movement, the scientific study of those graves has become a standard facet of post-conflict international assistance. Digging for the Disappeared provides readers with a window into this growing but little-understood form of human rights work, including the dangers and sometimes unexpected complications that arise as evidence is gathered and the dead are named.
Adam Rosenblatt examines the ethical, political, and historical foundations of the rapidly growing field of forensic investigation, from the graves of the "disappeared" in Latin America to genocides in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia to post–Saddam Hussein Iraq. In the process, he illustrates how forensic teams strive to balance the needs of war crimes tribunals, transitional governments, and the families of the missing in post-conflict nations. Digging for the Disappeared draws on interviews with key players in the field to present a new way to analyze and value the work forensic experts do at mass graves, shifting the discussion from an exclusive focus on the rights of the living to a rigorous analysis of the care of the dead. Rosenblatt tackles these heady, hard topics in order to extend human rights scholarship into the realm of the dead and the limited but powerful forms of repair available for victims of atrocity.
"Digging for the Disappeared is an easy to read text which takes you on a journey in forensic anthropology, archaeology, and human rights work from its insurgence in Latin America and growth in the field thanks to the influence of luminaries such as the late Clyde Snow and Bill Haglund . . . [I]t carries its weight when it comes to the contents, detailed discussion on various themes including the merging human rights movement, transitional governments, and tribunals."—Keith K. Silica, Staffordshire University
"A work of heart and mind, Digging for the Disappeared is a fascinating, much-needed critique of international forensic ethics and human rights. Rosenblatt rightly calls for a more humanistic approach to the medico-legal examination and care of mortal remains in the wake of mass atrocities and disasters. Required reading for anyone interested in the promotion of justice and social reconstruction in post-war societies."—Eric Stover, coauthor of The Graves: Srebrencia and Vukovar
"Digging for the Disappeared chronicles an unavoidable chapter in the contemporary struggle for human rights—the search for the remains of the victims of the heinous crime of forced 'disappearances' and the inspiring efforts to train new generations of forensic scientists. It is a moving, thoroughly researched, essential book."—José Zalaquett, University of Chile
"Digging for the Disappeared opens up the world of forensic investigations of human rights violations to reveal its political, practical, and philosophical complexities. Moving from Argentina to Poland, former Yugoslavia to Rwanda and beyond, Rosenblatt invites us to consider the rights of the dead alongside the politics of the living. The result is a compassionate, compelling call to understand the logics underwriting efforts to recover and name the missing."—Sarah Wagner, George Washington University
"This book is as bottomless and as urgent as the grief of those whose loved ones lie in mass graves."—Elaine Scarry, Harvard University
"Adam Rosenblatt's compelling narrative and searing analysis ensure that this book is not only an essential addition to the shelf but also a thoroughly engaging read. His is a perfectly timed analysis of why forensic science is done and the questions that should always be asked, written with a depth of compassion that is unexpected. The simple and accessible approach in parts belies a fiery critical analysis and personalised knowledge . . . The narrative style is a model for forensic writing and analysis that should be highly prized going forward."—Lucy Easthope and Stephanie Armstrong, Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences
"Despite dealing with subtle and challenging concepts, the book is engaging, self-reflective and surprisingly accessible; Rosenblatt's most significant achievement could, in fact, be the ability to make an academic book on a highly technical subject a page-turner for a broad readership The innovative scope of the book, the unique questions it raises and comprehensively addresses, and its accessibility make it a must-read for anyone interested in human rights, transitional justice, and post-conflict studies more broadly."—Iosif Kovras, Human Rights Review
"To conclude, Adam Rosenblatt wrote a highly urgent book about the use of forensic science after atrocity. He clearly articulates the politics and contingencies of such humanitarian practices, and makes a persuasive argument for a holistic, victim and mourners centric approach. As such, the book does not necessarily articulate a new approach to forensic practice, yet Rosenblatt's contribution is that he is one of the first authors to eloquently pose the "big" moral, ethical and philosophical questions that human rights workers face during their work. In that sense, the book is an astonishing achievement and should become mandatory reading for anyone interested in human rights, transitional justice, victim identification operations after atrocity and disaster, or forensic science."—Victor Toom, Journal of Human Rights
"Digging for the Disappeared is an informative, moving, and enriching read, well written and perceptive. This book will serve as a great student introduction to the politics and ethics of exhumation, as it manages to be highly readable and accessible, without glossing over the complexity of these investigations in the real world. It will also be helpful to scientific and forensic practitioners, offering a more reflective perspective than those standard case reports that emphasize protocol and best practice. For those working in dead-body politics, it is a key text, which will stimulate further debate."—Layla Renshaw, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
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