HUMAN SKULLS IN MUSEUMS

ETHICAL ASPECTS AND CHALLENGES FOR BRAZIL

Abstract

Human skulls were systematically collected in the colonies by nineteenth-century naturalists to support craniometric practices in European museums, which were linked to scientific racism, and were musealized without the consent of their communities of origin, including in Brazil. This article maps and analyzes the historical development of the codes of ethics of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and Brazil, focusing on the human remains of Indigenous peoples. This is a descriptive qualitative study of a bibliographical and documentary nature, grounded in the history of science, scientific racism, and critical museology. The results show that Brazil, despite constitutional advances and occasional institutional initiatives, lacks specific legislation and IBRAM guidelines concerning the ethical aspects of sensitive collections. For Information Science and Museology, the theme of human remains in museums presents a wide range of research possibilities as information systems not only for inventory and management of sensitive collections, but to promote access policies that consider both the right to information, cultural privacy and decision-making power of communities in the way sensitive collections are stored, documented, exhibited and returned.