In this essay for “Where Heritage Meets Violence,” Annalisa Bolin examines the physical and structural violence that has enabled the collection of human remains for colonial museums. Via cases from German East Africa and elsewhere, the essay traces how colonial conceptions of race intersected with anthropological research, targeting "appropriate" bodies with physically violent collecting practices. Today, attempts to repatriate human remains, even if they are halting, partial, and complicated, make an effort to counter these violent legacies.

In this introduction to the "Where Heritage Meets Violence" series, Annalisa Bolin encapsulates contemporary discussions and recent research on the connection between cultural heritage and violence—physical, symbolic, and structural. She argues that by acknowledging and engaging with these dynamics “we can negotiate what our societies become.”