Working for the Living and the Dead

Abstract

Forensic science and medicine play a critical role in human identification, with the underlying premise being that ‘the truth’ can be empirically and objectively obtained. This chapter explores some of the approaches to exhumation and identification undertaken in Timor-Leste and discusses some of the complexities associated with scientific reason and the notion of the construction of ‘forensic truth’. The difficulty of establishing personal identification from skeletal remains in Timor-Leste is discussed in the context of large numbers of missing persons, the fact that atrocities took place in multiple locations over a 24-year period, and the fact that there is limited local forensic capacity. In addition, the ways in which the process of identification is understood is discussed in light of different notions of ‘truth’, highlighting the political, social, and ethical complexities at play.