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How do displays of skeletons encourage the view or treatment of individuals as sub-human?

I'm just guessing, but I'll try to give an analogy that might illustrate the problem that some people have with these displays. I would guess that somewhere in Massachusetts, New York, and other New England towns you could find the graves of many of the people who emigrated to America on the Mayflower and other early sailing vessels. While we might actually learn some interesting things from the study of their bones, I think many people would find it unseemly to dig them up now, study them, and display their bones in museums. Modern American Indians may feel the same way about American Indians from the same time period (early North American exploration and colonial) being exhumed from their traditional burial grounds and displayed.

In my opinion, studies could still be done if there was a legitimate practical or academic reason for them, but the remains should be buried decently again when the study is complete.

WFTR
Bill

I agree with what you have said, the argument is that these are not American Indians/Native Americans.
Chatters, in his book, says that there are not any skeletons in North America older than 6,000 years old that can be classified as American Indian/Native American. All the skeletons older than 6,000 years old are someone entirely different.

Now, I have discussed this with a FReeper Native American who basically said, "who-ever is found in the skeleton record, that's us." (I suppose he could be correct if he can accept that KM is his ancestor, huh?)

I think many people would find it unseemly to dig them up now, study them, and display their bones in museums.

While I suspect that this may be unusual, it's not unheard of. Here's a snippet from a page listing public tours available in the Colonial Williamsburg area:

GUIDED LOCAL TOURS provided by Maximum Guided Tours Williamsburg, VA

Jamestown Island and Jamestown Settlement - 4 hours

At Jamestown Island archaeologists are still uncovering the site of the first permanent English speaking settlement. Also, at this site the date of 1619 is profound. The first African-Americans arrived on the shores of the New World, and the first representative government was formed. The foundations of many important buildings remain. Of particular interest are the ruins of the church where Pocahontas was baptized and married, the tomb of a knight, and the skeleton of a settler who was buried within the fort in 1608. His bones and thousands of other artifacts can be viewed in the museum. At Jamestown Settlement the island history comes alive. The fort of 1610 is reconstructed according to John Smith's records and daily life within it is recreated. You may board one of the 3 ships which are replicas of those which brought the settlers here in 1607. The Susan Constant may well be the most accurately represented ship of the 1600's in the world. An Indian village has been recreated to exemplify a village of the Powhatan Indians living in the area in the 1600's. Observe the "Indians" perform the tasks of their everyday lives.

PRICES $25.00 per person. Includes guide service admission, and transportation

In my opinion, studies could still be done if there was a legitimate practical or academic reason for them, but the remains should be buried decently again when the study is complete.

The problem is that re-burying the skeleton will cause it to be lost to future researchers who will have far more sophisticated techniques of analysis. The preference among researchers would be to put it in a sealed case to preserve it for the future

The "connection" between a skeleton and presently-living people decreases with age. Past a couple-thousand years it is tenuous at best.