Alamo Sierra Club Monthly Meeting

Our general meetings are on the third Tuesday of each month at William R. Sinkin Eco Centro. They are free and open to everyone. Socializing begins at 6:00 p.m., program at 6:30 p.m.. Presentations last about an hour. 

Our June general meeting features Jennifer Barron, Ph.D., discussing the ethics of historic skeletal collections, how we view them, and our stewardship of them.

Tuesday, July 18^th
6:00 pm

Meeting schedule

Informal get-to-know-you	6:00 pm to 6:15 pm
Announcements	6:15 pm to 6:30 pm
Featured program	6:30 pm to 8:00 pm

Venue

This meeting will not be webcast on Zoom.

Program topic

Historic skeletal collections in the US that were assembled during the 19th and early 20th centuries have recently come to the forefront of ethics discussions in biological anthropology. Most, if not all of these collections were amassed prior to landmark guidelines such as the Nuremberg Code, or the Belmont Report in which research subjects are afforded voluntary participation, beneficence, justice, and informed consent.

Knowing that these collections do not follow today’s bioethical guidelines for research, and are contradictory to today’s theoretical paradigms, how do we view these collections and our ongoing stewardship of them? What steps do we take to mitigate the ethics within a collection if they also provide and educational component?

Within American institutions, an unknown number of human remains reside in historic skeletal collections, amounting to above-ground necropolises. Currently, there is no existing best practice industry standard for the treatment of non-Indigenous historic human remains used for teaching, research, and display within institutional collections.

By recognizing that these collections are composed of disempowered individuals who were dissected and studied without their consent and working to produce an applicable best practice policy, this research produces the first document offering tangible solutions for the museum, biological anthropology, and bioethical fields.

About our speaker

Jennifer Barron is a career museum professional who has worked within academic and institutional settings interpreting collections for over 15 years. Current and past projects include collaborating with a team of scholars, educators, and museum professionals to complete the transformation of the Witte Museum in San Antonio, Texas (2011-2016), collaborating on forensic casework for Operation Identification, and NAGPRA repatriation.

Education

PhD, Applied Anthropology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
MLitt Museum and Gallery Studies, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland
BA Anthropology, University of Missouri- Columbia

In 2017, with the guidance of Dr. Michelle Hamilton, Barron curated the Grady Early Skeletal Pathology Collection in the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State (FACTS) which led to her doctoral research in ethics and informed consent within human remains collections. Barron received her BA in anthropology from the University of Missouri- Columbia and her Master of Literature in Museum and Gallery Studies from the University of St Andrews, Scotland. She recently completed a PhD candidate in the Applied Anthropology Program at Texas State University.

Zoom meeting access info

• Meeting ID: 966 5254 0606
• Passcode: 377093
• Link: https://sierraclub.zoom.us/j/96652540606?pwd=UUVISUw3OHluQ2xsQk5IeENxeXFZdz09

Eco Centro is located at San Antonio College, 1802 North Main Avenue @ Locust Street. There is a parking lot adjacent to Eco Centro which is entered from Locust Street. We can also use SAC parking lots 14, 15 and 17 (map of parking lots) to the north, west and south of the STIC building across North Main Avenue from Eco Centro.

Parking is also allowed on the residential streets to the east, north and south of Eco Centro.

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