Emic–Etic Perspectives on Southeast Asian Cultural Attitudes Surrounding Human Remains

ABSTRACT Community ethics and cultural attitudes vary across contexts in which professionals work with human remains. Southeast Asia is home to millions; thus, there are challenges when attempting to understand and articulate the diversity in cultures, ideologies, and ethics surrounding the dead. Our semi‐autoethnographic and qualitative research addresses these challenges through a critical self‐examination of how we conduct our work with human remains, engaging with diverse communities around us. Our approach combines insights from osteologists, which provide both culturally informed personal perspectives (emic) and professional views of ethical issues surrounding work with human remains (etic). Thematic analysis returned three main themes: (a) we in Southeast Asia, who work directly with the dead, are influenced heavily by the social and ideological norms we operate within; (b) community attitudes towards our professions are diverse and interesting to consider in and of themselves; (c) it is important to put efforts into public engagement on science and ethics, particularly with local community members and government authorities, and influence others in society to adopt or further a dynamic, non‐monolithic culture of respect towards human remains. We hope this study adds to the growing literature on ethics in the biological, archaeological, and forensic sciences.

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Publication Details

Journal
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology
Published
2026-01-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.70065
Primary Topic
Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Emic–Etic Perspectives on Southeast Asian Cultural Attitudes Surrounding Human Remains

Pratiwi Yuwono, Naruphol Wangthongchaicharoen, Delta Bayu Murti, Michael B. C. Rivera et al.
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology
Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies
article

Emic–Etic Perspectives on Southeast Asian Cultural Attitudes Surrounding Human Remains

Pratiwi Yuwono, Naruphol Wangthongchaicharoen, Delta Bayu Murti, Michael B. C. Rivera, Patara Rattanachet, Chin‐hsin Liu, CHONG CHIN HEO, Minh Duc Tran, Sophorn Nhoem, Toetik Koesbardiati, Kathleen Felise Constance Tantuico, Edwin Miguel Anadon, Ker Woon Choy, Wan Xian Yeo, Nandar Yukyi, Winsome Hin‐Shin Lee, Erwin Mansyur U. Saraka, Tatfeef Haque, Elaine Yih‐Ning Chu, Sarah Agatha Villaluz
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Community ethics and cultural attitudes vary across contexts in which professionals work with human remains. Southeast Asia is home to millions; thus, there are challenges when attempting to understand and articulate the diversity in cultures, ideologies, and ethics surrounding the dead. Our semi‐autoethnographic and qualitative research addresses these challenges through a critical self‐examination of how we conduct our work with human remains, engaging with diverse communities around us. Our approach combines insights from osteologists, which provide both culturally informed personal perspectives (emic) and professional views of ethical issues surrounding work with human remains (etic). Thematic analysis returned three main themes: (a) we in Southeast Asia, who work directly with the dead, are influenced heavily by the social and ideological norms we operate within; (b) community attitudes towards our professions are diverse and interesting to consider in and of themselves; (c) it is important to put efforts into public engagement on science and ethics, particularly with local community members and government authorities, and influence others in society to adopt or further a dynamic, non‐monolithic culture of respect towards human remains. We hope this study adds to the growing literature on ethics in the biological, archaeological, and forensic sciences.

International Journal of OsteoarchaeologyVol. 36(1)
Siriraj Hospital (TH), Texas State University (US), California State University, Northridge (US), National University of Singapore (SG), Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK), Universitas Airlangga (ID), Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VN), Film Independent (US), Hospital Sungai Buloh (MY), International Association for Dental Research (US), University of the Philippines Manila (PH), Southern Cross University (AU), Universiti Teknologi MARA (MY), James Cook University (AU), Silpakorn University (TH), University of the Philippines Diliman (PH), University of Hong Kong (HK), International Committee of the Red Cross (CH), Hasanuddin University (ID)
Openalex Percentile: Top 95%
Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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