For this prompt I decided to investigate the field of forensic anthropology and in doing so, found the American board of Forensic Anthropology or ABFA. This organization was founded in 1977 as a nonprofit organization and had one goal in mind. This goal was to “to provide, in the public interest and the advancement of science, a program of certification in forensic anthropology.” This organization boasts on its website that it is the highest recognized level of professional qualification in the field of forensic anthropology.
The first thing that I wanted to find out about this organization was the when accredited members of this organization are called in to action. After browsing the website for a few minutes, it is easy to find a section of the website that addresses the matters in which forensic anthropologists are consulted. This includes recovering remains and associated evidence from an outdoor scene, locating clandestine graves or remains on the ground’s surface or even something as simple as identifying whether or not bones are human or non-human. These examples alone are connected to the study in anthropology in general due to close proximity to physical anthropology. These small instances that fall under the umbrella of responsibilities of a forensic anthropologist are all having to do with the collection and investigation of human remains. These investigations require a deep knowledge of how the human body is made up and how the body interacted with its environment prior to its death in order to see results. Although anthropology tackles larger scale issues and themes like evolution, forensic anthropology and larger scale anthropology are still related due to the necessity of understanding physical anthropology. This understanding of physical anthropology is a key tool to the forensic anthropologist in order to assist law enforcement in solving crimes based around the studied remains.
I chose forensic anthropology over the other subgroups of anthropology for fairly simple reasons. I have always been interested in forensics due to my interest in television and movies that show an abbreviated and simplified version of it for the viewing pleasure of millions. I know its not a scientific way to approach this assignment, but forensic anthropology seems more interesting especially when finding out the true ways in which law enforcement is assisted by anthropologists. ABFA is the perfect introduction to the world of forensic anthropology because of its descriptions explaining the use of forensic anthropologists that I mentioned above. The site goes on to answers questions regarding the process of what you should do if you would like to employ the services of an anthropologists including whether or not too show them the whole crime scene or just the remains themselves. It turns out most forensic anthropologists prefer to see the crime scene prior to the removal of the remains. Forensic anthropologists are also able to learn many things about cremated remains, and some are even permitted to complete facial reproductions that used to model what caused the death of a certain victim. Overall, forensic anthropology is an interesting field of the broader subject due to its close relation to physical anthropology and how the knowledge of the physical can lead to us answering questions regarding the forensic.
Link: http://theabfa.org/
I thought your blog post was very interesting. I had never learned too much about forensic anthropology so it was very nice to learn something new. After reading your post I know how important forensic anthropology is. I was interested in learning about the American Board of Forensic Anthropology or ABFA. It seems even the most specific fields of research always have a professional membership organization that provides a generally accepted high-level certification. I found your post and the subfield, forensic anthropology, extremely interesting because of the work related to the field. It is very unique that they often study remains in forensic anthropology and it was interesting that they often help law enforcement with identifications. Overall, I found your post very interesting along with the subfield you covered.