What Is a Mass Grave? Toward an Anthropology of Human Remains Treatment in Contemporary Contexts of Mass Violence

Drawing upon a set of interdisciplinary studies conducted between 2012 and 2016 in the context of the European research program “Corpses of Mass Violence and Genocide,” this chapter seeks to examine the specific moment of the manipulation of corpses by perpetrators in contexts of mass violence and genocide. This highly significant stage in the treatment of bodies combines various modes of visibility and appropriation of human remains, which in turn underpin a vast array of activities ranging from the destruction of bodies and/or their concealment to simply abandoning them, or indeed putting them on public display, in addition to the widespread practice of burying them in mass graves. However, granting the status of “grave” to these sites is far from unproblematic. The study of mass burial practices therefore opens new avenues for research in death studies.