Dienstag, 6. Mai 2025, 18:30 (im Anschluss an die Generalversammlung), Hörsaal C, Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie Neues Institutsgebäude (NIG), Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Wien
Vortragssprache/ language of presentation: English
Lecture by Ruby Satele, University of Vienna
What Sāmoa Indigenous references can help us envision and implement the rematriation of ancestral remains? How can art contribute to this effort? How can Western institutions engage in this process?
Rematriation represents a feminist and community-oriented approach aimed at restoring balance to Indigenous cultures and environments. Although a relatively new phenomenon, its conceptual framework is gaining traction in the global repatriation movement for human remains.
This paper first discusses the endeavours to trace the life stories of the ancestral remains from Sāmoa currently housed in German institutions. It then examines site-specific rematriation through the lens of Sāmoa Indigenous references. A “Sacred Centre” is a Sāmoa worldview of centrality and relationality. It is used as a guiding philosophy throughout the paper – a framework that helps reclaim agency in the processes of research, care and return of the ancestral remains. This work acknowledges and carries forward the contributions of those who came before, who planted the seeds of responsibility for the care of all ancestral remains.
This lecture presents aspects of ongoing PhD research. It is part of the Global Conservation: Histories and Theories (GloCo) project, funded by the European Research Council and situated within the Faculty Centre for Transdisciplinary Historical and Cultural Studies at the University of Vienna.
© Lorenz Barnet
Ruby Satele, of Sāmoa descent from Aotearoa New Zealand, is a PhD candidate and University Assistant (Pre-Doc) on the Global Conservation: Histories and Theories (GloCo) project at the University of Vienna. She holds an MA (Hons) and PGDip in Museum Studies from the University of Auckland and a BA in Anthropology from the University of Otago. Her research focuses on the care of ancestral remains, centering diverse and pluralistic perspectives.