The Bioarchaeology of Structural Violence and Dissection in the 19th‐Century United States

Abstract

Structural violence is harm done to individuals or groups through the normalization of social inequalities in political-economic organization. Researchers working in both modern and prehistoric contexts focus on the lived experiences of individuals and the health disparities that arise from such violence. With this article, I seek to contribute to this literature by considering how skeletal evidence of dissection from the 19th-century United States reflects structural violence. I focus on "death experiences" and suggest that studies of structural violence must consider not only how inequality may be embodied as health disparities in the living but also "disembodiment" and the treatment and fate of the dead body. [bioarchaeology, dissection, autopsy, structural violence, United States] RESUMEN Violencia estructural es el daño hecho a individuos o grupos a través de la normalización de desigualdades sociales en una organización político-económica. Investigadores trabajando en contextos tanto modernos como prehistóricos se centran en las experiencias vividas por individuos y las disparidades en salud surgidas de tal violencia. Con este artículo, busco contribuir aésta literatura a través de considerar cómo evidencia esqueletal de disección del siglo XIX en los Estados Unidos refleja violencia estructural. Me enfoco en las "experiencias de muerte" y sugiero que estudios de violencia estructural deben considerar no sólo cómo la desigualdad puede ser corporizada como disparidades en salud en el viviente, sino también en "descorporización" y el tratamiento y destino del cuerpo muerto. [bioarqueología, disección, violencia estructural, Estados Unidos] S tructural violence is harm done to individuals or groups through the normalization of inequalities that are intimately, and invisibly, embedded in political-economic organization (Farmer et al. 2006). Research on modern groups (Farmer 2004;Farmer et al. 2006;Holmes 2013) and bioarchaeological skeletal collections (Harrod et al. 2012; Klaus 2012) that employ the concept of structural violence have focused on the lived experiences of individuals and the resulting health disparities. The former have considered the relationship between embedded social inequalities and chronic infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, while the latter have examined skeletal markers of systemic physiological stress (e.g., linear enamel hypoplasias, porotic hyperostosis) and traumatic injury. Here I focus on skeletal evidence of postmortem examination (i.e., dissection and

"The dead shall be raised": Multidisciplinary analysis of human skeletons reveals complexity in 19th century immigrant socioeconomic history and identity in New Haven, Connecticut

“…The skeletal characteristics of the four Christ Church burials and the church’s demographic profile are concordant with other bioarchaeological investigations of structural violence [17, 19]. Skeletons representing the remains of marginalized populations due to ethnicity, migration, gender or other factors show similar patterns of dental pathologies, lesions, trauma and occupational health issues[42, 43, 57, 203–207]. We posit that socioeconomic, religious and geographic (i.e., the Hill neighborhood) inequalities are implicated in the condition of the four individuals as people and for the Christ Church community as a whole [208–210].…”

“…We posit that socioeconomic, religious and geographic (i.e., the Hill neighborhood) inequalities are implicated in the condition of the four individuals as people and for the Christ Church community as a whole [208–210]. Compiling and examining individual, local and regional mortuary data sources associated with skeletal remains reiterates the value of multidisciplinary efforts and illuminates the intersection of structural violence, health, mortality and bioarchaeology [57, 211–214].…”

“…While the historical record provides data on social stratification, occupational stress and/or racial and religious discrimination [49, 50], incomplete or biased records hamper bioarchaeological conclusions [51–54]. Skeletal biomarkers indicating structural violence may be clearly inscribed on bone and teeth [55–57] and provide another line of evidence for historians, whether from agricultural [58–60] or industrial [42, 61, 62] populations. As a result, historians increasingly interact with other scientific disciplines to evaluate violence, disparity, population migration and cultural tradition diffusion [24, 63–67].…”

When the dead teach: Exploring the postvital life of cadavers in Danish dissection labs

“…First, it underscores that practices, as well as the conditions that shape them, change over time. For instance, today bodies are supplied through voluntary donation in most European countries (McHanwell et al 2008;Riederer et al 2012) including Denmark, whereas they used to be supplied through governmental appropriation of bodies from criminals and the poor or via extralegal ways of procuring cadavers, such as grave robbery (Richardson 2000;Sappol 2002;Buklijas 2008;Nystrom 2014;Olejaz Tellerup 2013). These changes in supply are interesting as they tell us something about the intersections of the medical use of cadaveric material, ways of understanding corporeal afterlife, and the practising of rituals and values related to the management of the dead.…”

A century of paleopathology

“…Hence, skeletal collections inadvertently reflect social, political, and economic perspectives of the collector (Blakey, ). In most areas of the world, archaeological excavation of burials are conducted on politically marginalized and/or economically disenfranchised populations (Grauer et al, ; Nystrom, ; Rankin‐Hill, ), while burials of those of greater social standing remain protected and untouched. The result of these targeted collections are reference samples that often represent the poor, the politically and economically less powerful, and unique or extreme examples of a condition.…”