Affective Objects: Embodied Encounters with Human Remains in the Museum.

Drawing on recent anthropological work on objects and affect, this essay presents reflections on a multi-sensory ethnographic approach to working with historical collections of human remains in the museum. The affective dimensions of human remains - and in this case, of preserved tattooed skin in particular - are explored in relation to their visual and material specificity, the ‘sympathetic’ embodied responses of the ethnographer, and narrative storytelling, in order to reveal new aspects of their histories and their contemporary place in museum collections.