These Were People Once
The Online Trade in Human Remains and Why It Matters
1st Edition
Published on 15. September 2023
236 pages
978-1-80539-363-4 (ISBN)
Description
People buy and sell human remains online. Most of this trade these days is over social media. In a study of this 'bone trade', how it works, and why it matters, the authors review and use a variety of methods drawn from the digital humanities to analyze the sheer volume of social media posts in search of answers to questions regarding this online bone trade. The answers speak to how the 21st century understands and constructs 'heritage' more generally: each person their own expert, yet seeking community and validation, and like the major encyclopedic museums, built on a kind of digital neocolonialist othering of the dead.
Reviews / Votes
"An easy read on a difficult subject, its beautiful encapsulations of the tragic lives behind their commodified remains highlight the urgency of the authors' project and public and commercial responses to it. The grim thread of mistreatment of the dead guides the reader through the labyrinth of Big Tech, how cynical tech companies and equally-cynical users are complicit in each other's harms." * Samuel Andrew Hardy, Cultural Property CriminologistMore details
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
Bibliography; Index; 20 Illustrations
ISBN-13
978-1-80539-363-4 (9781805393634)
DOI
10.3167/9781805390862
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Damien Huffer | Shawn Graham
These Were People Once
The Online Trade in Human Remains and Why It Matters
Book
09/2023
Berghahn Books
€147.00
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Persons
Damien Huffer is a research fellow with the Wildlife Crime Research Hub, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide. An osteoarchaeologist and interdisciplinary illicit trafficking researcher, he was previously a lecturer in criminology, School of Social Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane. He has also lectured on topics in osteoarchaeology, paleoanthropology and forensic anthropology, most recently for the University of New England, Armidale, NSW. His current research investigates how and why heritage crime and wildlife crime overlap on and offline. He is one of the cofounders of the Alliance to Counter Crime Online.
Content
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface: They Sell What Online?
Chapter 1. The Lives Behind The Photos
Chapter 2. The Dead For Sale
Chapter 3. Looking At Bodies
Chapter 4. The Lies Behind the Bodies?
Chapter 5. Why Does It Matter?
Glossary of Terms
Appendix A: A Walk Through of the InstagramCLI Python Package
Appendix B: A Walk Through of the PixPlot Python Package
Appendix C: Text Analysis with Python and Jupyter
References
List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface: They Sell What Online?
Chapter 1. The Lives Behind The Photos
Chapter 2. The Dead For Sale
Chapter 3. Looking At Bodies
Chapter 4. The Lies Behind the Bodies?
Chapter 5. Why Does It Matter?
Glossary of Terms
Appendix A: A Walk Through of the InstagramCLI Python Package
Appendix B: A Walk Through of the PixPlot Python Package
Appendix C: Text Analysis with Python and Jupyter
References
