From the narrative to the genes: When forensic technique meets social reparation

Abstract

Every year thousands of people disappear in Brazil. However, it is still not clear how many of these are related to cases of forced disappearance resulting from institutional and state violence. A growing demand arising from family members of missing persons has resulted in creating of the Human Identification Lab at the Center of Anthropology and Forensic Archeology at the Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. The intersection between the struggles of family members and the forensic knowledge at the university enabled the development of methodologies and protocols divided into three stages: ante mortem; post mortem, and forensic genetic, specifically built to identify victims of forced disappearance.

Keywords

• Missing persons
• Human identification
• State violence
• ante mortem
• post mortem
• Forensic DNA