Towards a spectral forensics: spirits as epistemic resources in responses to the dead and missing

The ‘forensic turn’ in transitional justice has seen technologies of identification, notably DNA, become an essential part of recommended responses to missing and disappeared persons in the afermath of violent conflict. There is now a widespread assumption that these technologies will deliver an incontrovertible ‘forensic truth’ that will instantiate families’ ‘right to know’ the fate of their loved ones and benefit society as a whole. However, in many contexts a lack of technical and financial resources limits the use of such approaches, while in much of the majority world, indigenous techniques, notably those that involve communication with the spirits of the dead, provide an alternative route to understanding the fate and whereabouts of the missing. In this article we introduce the term ‘spectral forensics’ as way to explore approaches to ‘knowing’ the missing that engage with the spirit realm. We engage with empirical evidence to explore the scope and reach of contemporary spectral forensics. We argue that there is much that can be learned from spectral forensics about alternative understandings of truth, justice, and peace, which could avoid over-privileging exhumation and identification models based on international forensic expertise.