Episode 7.2: Human remains, politics and curiosity

Meet Kate Kolpan, an assistant professor in the Department of Culture, Society and Justice at University of Idaho. Kolpan is a bioarchaeologist and forensic anthropologist whose research focuses on migration, violence, warfare and the politics related to the exhumation, identification and commemoration of human remains in both the past and present. She is discussing the politics of human remains and how forensics in real life differs from how it’s depicted on TV.

Email us at vandaltheory@uidaho.edu. 

Do you think the dead have power over the living, either literally or figuratively?

Human remains are much more than just piles of bones. The dead still have the power to influence our lives, whether you believe in ghosts or an afterlife or nothing at all, and some of those ways may be surprising. Kolpan’s job has taken her all over the world to places where she has helped uncover the remains of genocide victims, soldiers who fought for the Axis Powers in World War II and more. While the process may seem straightforward, in fact it is a situation that can be fraught with conflict and has sometimes put her in situations where she was caught in the middle of someone else’s agenda. Kolpan has also assisted in real-life crime investigations, and she discusses how television dramas have given us portrayals of forensic science that aren’t necessarily rooted in reality.  

Music

“Young Republicans” by Steve Combs via freemusicarchive.org, not modified.

“Redwood Chill” by Matthew Trent Cropper via Amphibious Zoo.