Genetic Testing, Forensic Practice, and Changing Cultures of War Dead Commemoration

萨拉·e·瓦格纳博士（北卡罗莱纳大学格林斯博罗分校）将进行关于不断变化的法医实践和战争死者纪念活动的研究。这项研究将在美国进行。在上个世纪的战争中，美国约有8.8万名士兵失踪，因此，美国孤军奋战，寻求将遗骸送回美国，并寻找失踪男女军人的身份。致力于这项任务的军方法医人类学实验室是世界上同类实验室中规模最大的。DNA提取和分析程序的发展，将个人的名字重新连接到未命名的美国士兵遗骸上，这导致了全球法医遗传学的进步。简而言之，这些努力是前所未有和无与伦比的。研究人员将研究为什么如此非凡的资源被用于恢复和识别美国战争死者，以及反过来，拥有这样的物质和智力资源如何影响美国人哀悼失去的士兵的方式。具体而言，该项目侧重于查明失踪人员的能力提高如何影响政府与失踪人员家属、军人和公众之间的社会契约；以及围绕死亡和战争的纪念符号的社会建构。数据将通过对幸存亲属、退伍军人和负责失踪人员“全面统计”的三个政府机构进行深入的民族志研究来收集：战俘/失踪人员联合统计司令部；武装部队DNA鉴定实验室；以及国防部战俘/失踪人员办公室。比较认知模型将使用文化共识程序进行。该项目还将通过档案研究和参与观察，分析与纪念美国战争死者有关的重大事件和空间，包括阿灵顿国家公墓的无名战士墓和华盛顿特区的越南退伍军人纪念碑。研究人员将记录和分析程序、DNA测试、此类努力的历史、家庭期望和公众纪念活动。这项研究很重要，因为它将是第一个对法医实践，特别是基因科学，对失踪士兵身份识别产生广泛影响的民族志描述。这将有助于从一个新的和重要的角度理论化技术、文化和社会之间的关系。这项研究将进一步加深公众对新的法医实践的理解，以及官方对家庭和公众期望以及原因的理解。

Dr. Sarah E. Wagner (University of North Carolina, Greensboro) will undertake research on changing forensic practice and the commemoration of war dead. The research will be carried out in the United States. With some 88,000 missing soldiers from the previous century's wars, the United States stands alone in its pursuit of repatriating remains and identifying its missing men and women of uniform. The military's forensic anthropology laboratory dedicated to this task is the largest facility of its kind in the world. The DNA extraction and analysis procedures developed to reattach individual names to unnamed remains of American soldiers have led to advancements in forensic genetics across the globe. The efforts, simply put, are unprecedented and unparalleled.The researcher will examine why such extraordinary resources have been brought to bear to recover and identify American war dead and, in turn, how having such material and intellectual resources has affected the ways in which Americans mourn lost soldiers. Specifically, the project focuses on how the increased capacity to account for the missing influences the social contracts between the government and families of the missing, members of the military, and the general public; and the social construction of commemorative symbols around death and war.Data will be gathered through in-depth ethnographic research among surviving relatives, veterans, and the three governmental agencies responsible for "full accounting" of the missing: the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command; the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory; and the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office. Comparative cognitive modeling will be carried out using cultural consensus procedures. The project will also analyze, through archival research and participant observation, major events and spaces associated with memorializing US war dead, including the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. The researcher will document and analyze procedures, DNA testing, the history of such efforts, family expectations, and public commemorations. The research is important because it will be the first ethnographic account of the wide-ranging influence that forensic practice, specifically genetic science, has had on the identification of missing soldiers. This will contribute to theorizing the relationship between technology, culture, and society, from a new and important perspective. The research will further public understanding of new forensic practices, as well as official understanding of what families and the public expect, and why.