20245603(en)/8 - “...That They Can Return to Mother Earth…”. Creating a Regulatory Framework from a Collaborative and Demand-Driven Anthropology in Córdoba (Argentina)
“...THAT THEY CAN RETURN TO MOTHER EARTH…”. CREATING A REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FROM A COLLABORATIVE AND DEMAND-DRIVEN ANTHROPOLOGY IN CÓRDOBA (ARGENTINA)
“QUE PUEDAN VOLVER A LA MADRE TIERRA…”. CREACIÓN DE UNA NORMATIVA DESDE UNA ANTROPOLOGÍA COLABORATIVA Y POR DEMANDA EN CÓRDOBA (ARGENTINA)
Mariela Eleonora Zabala
In 2015, provincial law No. 10.317 was enacted in adherence to national law No. 25,517 on the Restitution of Mortal Remains of Aboriginal People passed in 2001. In the second half of 2021, the Museum of Anthropology of the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities of the National University of Córdoba was invited to participate in the creation of the draft regulatory decree for this law. Initially, working sessions were held and, subsequently, the Restitution Table was created. In this paper, I aim to ethnographically document the collaborative and inter-institutional work involved in drafting a public policy that challenges and regulates contemporary practices of science and museology. I highlight the anthropological contributions that can be made from a university museum, established in 1941, which holds sensitive human skeletal remains of archaeological and patrimonial, interest that are in transit and storage (according to anthropological terminology). These remains were donated by amateur archeologists and external researchers, or were obtained as a result of archaeological investigations, within the framework of the regulations in force at each historical moment. Additionally, I wish to reflect on the perspectives of Indigenous community members, state agents, and myself regarding these complex processes, as part of historical reparation policies within a broader framework of human rights.