Postdoctoral Fellowship: SPRF: Syncretic Forensics in Post-Atrocity Repair

该奖项是美国国家科学基金会社会、行为和经济科学博士后研究奖学金（SPRF）计划的一部分。SPRF计划的目标是为学术界、工业界或私营部门和政府的科学事业准备有前途的早期职业博士级科学家。SPRF奖励包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行为期两年的培训，并鼓励博士后进行独立研究。美国国家科学基金会寻求促进科学界各阶层的科学家，包括那些未被充分代表的群体的科学家，参与其研究项目和活动；博士后阶段被认为是实现这一目标的一个重要的专业发展阶段。每个博士后必须解决各自学科领域的重要科学问题。在田纳西大学诺克斯维尔分校的Dawnie Wolfe Steadman博士的赞助下，这个博士后奖学金奖支持一位早期职业科学家，研究在后暴行背景下的法医人类学家如何在他们的工作中尊重不同的殡葬实践，同时满足法医科学的医学和科学标准。例如，有一种模式是由文化人类学家充当法医工作者和不承认西医的土著部落之间的调解人。虽然研究表明，在暴行后的背景下，社区对死者的适当治疗的看法对于重建社会凝聚力至关重要，但缺乏系统的指导方针，使法医人类学家面临造成更多伤害的风险。为了扩大我们对这一领域的理解，我们将研究人权调查中的法医人类学家如何将殡葬服务的不同文化要求与法医科学的医疗和科学标准的应用结合起来。我们将进行两条调查路线：1)法医能力，特别是将定性数据整合到生物分析中；2)文化敏感性，评估使用的以受害者为中心的方法在多大程度上与法医人类学家正在测试的差异议定书相一致。通过将传统的定性数据（如口述历史和证人证词）整合到法医过程中，本研究有望为逐步建立和完善法医工作与本地化殡葬服务相结合的跨文化策略奠定基础。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Dawnie Wolfe Steadman at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating how forensic anthropologists in post-atrocity contexts can honor diverse mortuary care practices in their work while meeting the medical and scientific standards of forensic science. For example, there is a model whereby a cultural anthropologist acts as mediator between forensic workers and Indigenous tribes who do not recognize Western medicine. While research shows that community perceptions of proper treatment of the deceased is critical to reestablishing social cohesion in post-atrocity contexts, the lack of systematic guidelines for doing so leaves forensic anthropologists at risk of doing more harm. To expand our understanding in this area, we will research how forensic anthropologists in human rights investigations align diverse cultural requirements for mortuary care with the application of medical and scientific standards of forensic science. We will pursue two lines of inquiry: 1) forensic capacity, specifically the integration of qualitative data into biological profiling; and 2) cultural sensitivity, evaluating to what extent a victim-centered approach used reconciles with the Differential Protocols being tested by forensic anthropologists. By integrating traditionally qualitative data such as oral histories and witness testimony into the forensic process, this research will hopefully help lay the groundwork for the gradual establishment and refinement of cross-cultural tactics for syncretizing forensic work with localized mortuary care.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.