Response To 的 Representational Politics of 科学
发送日期:2021年9月30日
发件人:文森特·J. 德尔·卡西诺., Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
亲爱的同事们,
Yesterday, I sent a message to all faculty and staff in the division regarding a series
的推文. Dr. 伊丽莎白 Weiss from the Department of Anthropology wrote to me and
asked that I “either formally withdraw the statement or publish mine, to the same
people/list that yours went out to, as a response.下面是博士. 韦斯未经编辑的(但是)
slightly reformatted) response to my message.
真诚地,
文
***
亲爱的文,
I am disappointed in your lack of reaching out to me and talking to me about this
issue before posting your email. 的re are a few things that I would like to point
out before getting to the heart of the issue:
1) Handling remains with 手套 is only necessary if these remains have always been
treated with gloved hands and other sterile conditions. 我到上海州立大学的时候，
in 2004, the collection had already been handled for many years, by many people without
手套. Putting 手套 on now would just be theater. 对DNA感兴趣的人
studies have reached out to me, I made it clear that these remains have been handled
for literally decades before my arrival without 手套 and, thus, the DNA would need
to be gotten through unbroken teeth.
2) 的 photo was taken during my curational duties. Throughout the years, I have boxed,
reboxed, and taken care of these remains. In this case, I hadn't been in the curation
facility since COVID-19 ended my ability to work with students on the collection,
so yes, I was genuinely happy to be back with the collection.
3) 菠菜网lol正规平台 is in compliance with NAGPRA和CalNAGPRA, even though I am against repatriation
-- as I have stated in many of my writings, as recently as a month ago in the Mercury
News -- I have never not d一个 my job with regard to compliance issues.
4) We have a culture of promoting the anthropology department and the collection;
this culture has revolved around interesting images. 我甚至得到了资助
this and helped promote human 多样性 by introducing people to the concept of skeletal
多样性. 的re have been promotional posters in which I have a similar pose. 这
has never been against university, college or departmental protocol. 不久前，
as recently as 2019, this was celebrated (such as when I won the Warburton Award for
excellence in scholarly activities in relation to my work on the collection). 它会让
a love of evolutionary anatomy, a love of anthropology, and a promotion of university
资源.
5) 这 university curates 一个 of the finest (and last) teaching and research collections
在美国发现了大量的骨骼残骸. We should be celebrating and utilizing this resource,
在它永远消失之前. I use the collection to instil a love of b一个s in my students,
and in - hopefully - the next generation of anthropologists and osteologists. 的
photo you refer to is entirely consistent with this love of b一个s, and with the spirit
of inquiry I foster (for example, in the 2015 Smithsonian traveling exhibition "What
成为人类意味着什么?", which I helped bring to the Bay Area).
We have no way of telling what the individuals whose remains we curate would think
about this issue, but when 一个 looks at the Egyptian mummies, Otzi the iceman, or
the bog bodies of northern Europe, public display celebrates these individuals, telling
their stories in a respectful way that gives them a voice they never had in life.
的 same is true of our collection, and we should be celebrating the lives of these
first occupants of 硅谷 - not allowing their voices to be silenced by a
vociferous campaign orchestrated by woke activists whose strategy is to try to shut
down debate, and promote superstition over science.
现在，进入问题的核心. I have been the target of a constant cancellation
过去10个月的袭击. It started with attacking and trying to get my book
banned (an effort that half of my colleagues encouraged), then it moved to deplatforming
my Society for American Archaeology talk. Recently, it involved over 1,200 comments
on Twitter regarding my op-ed in the Mercury News. I was reported to Twitter and investigated
in Germany due to the tweet regarding my op-ed. Finally, it's an attack on a genuine
photo that celebrates our collection, my admiration for the collection, and my joy
能胜任我的工作. After your strong statement regarding academic freedom,
I am disappointed that you were not courageous enough -- as those reporting on me
-- to talk to me first, to have a rational discussion about these occurrences.
Moving forward I request you either formally withdraw the statement or publish mine,
to the same people/list that yours went out to, as a response.
真诚地,
伊丽莎白
伊丽莎白·韦斯博士
人类学教授
