Historical Perspectives On Contemporary Issues
Christopher Heaney — Empires of the Dead
In this episode of Perspectives, we speak with Christopher Heaney, author of Empires of the Dead: Inca Mummies and the Peruvian Ancestors of American Anthropology. Bringing together the history of science, race, and museums' possession of Indigenous remains, from the sixteenth century to the twentieth, Empires of the Dead illuminates how South American ancestors became coveted mummies, skulls, and specimens of knowledge and nationhood. In doing so it reveals how Peruvian and Andean peoples have learned from their dead, seeking the recovery of looted heritage in the centuries before North American museums began their own work of decolonization.
Christopher Heaney received his Ph.D. from University of Texas at Austin. He is Assistant professor of Latin American History at the Pennsylvania State University, and a previous Dissertation Research Fellow at the Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine.
Closed-captioning available on YouTube.
Recorded on October 13, 2023.