Rehumanizing the Dead (lecture)

About this event

The Mobile Medical Museum and the USA Charles M. Baugh Biomedical Library present "Rehumanizing the Dead: Bioarchaeology, Medical Museums, and the Human Remains Trade," a lecture by Dr. Kristin LaFollette, Associate Professor of English and Director of Composition at the University of Southern Indiana. Attendance is free. To receive an invitation to the Zoom event, RSVP to the external link by 12 noon on November 19. DESCRIPTION: Much of the communication used to reference human remains—including reports in bioarchaeology, labels and descriptions in medical museums and archives, and web content in the human remains trade—does not adequately recognize the humanity of the individuals represented by those remains. However, "rehumanizing language," which is informed by advocacy and social justice, offers one solution to this dehumanization problem. Building from concepts and ethical standards in bioarchaeology, medical museums, the human remains trade, technical communication, and rhetoric of health and medicine (RHM), the speaker presents frameworks for developing rehumanizing language in various contexts to better honor, dignify, and respect the people represented by human remains. These frameworks are also applied to several original studies, which explore existing communication and the ways it uses rehumanizing language or could be adapted to better emphasize the humanity of the dead. MORE ABOUT KRISTIN LAFOLLETTE: Dr. LaFollette is the author of Rehumanizing People of the Past: Bioarchaeology, Medical Museums and Archives, and the Human Remains Trade (SUNY Press, 2026), and her research has been published in various journals, including Rhetoric of Health and Medicine, Technical Communication and Social Justice, and Across the Disciplines, among others. She also serves as Director of Humanities Content and Strategy at The Blood Project, an educational platform that works toward bridging the gap between evidence-based medicine and patient care. She received an MA in English from Indiana University South Bend and a PhD in rhetoric and writing studies from Bowling Green State University. Learn more about her work at kristinlafollette.com.