Formalinarvet: Oetiska samlingar eller unik kulturhistoria?

Abstract

Abstract This text will discuss the case of clearance at the Naturhistoriska Museum in Gothenburg, where political powers have ordered clearance of the collection of human remains. Among these human remains are a pair of human twins which have been subject to some debate and have been kept away from the exhibition for some years. There are those, amongst others the staff at the museum, who feel that the historical value is too great for the objects to be disposed of. The arguments of both parties will be evaluated and analysed to elucidate the conflict of interest that have arisen between those who seek to dispose and those who oppose, also what type of arguments are being used and what they are based on. A context will be provided both for how and why the twins and other human remains ended up in different collections in Sweden and who put them there. The text has shown that there is a complex problem relating to both the disposal and the keeping of human remains where the keeping is sometimes seen as unethical and the disposal as a way of erasing evidence of history that “we” do not want to be associated with anymore, but many objects could also be subject for research. The legal possibility for the clearance has also shown to be highly questionable.