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⚗️ Refusing the Biomedical Object

'We refuse to see human remains in the biomedical archive as research objects.' This essay re-maps what we call 'collections' and 'objects', surfacing how many were born in violence and extractive logics — and how access can itself replicate harm. The authors propose refusal as an ethical

Danu Poyner

· 1 minute

When knowledge takes a body: refusing the biomedical object
inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org

'We refuse to see human remains in the biomedical archive as research objects.' This essay re-maps what we call 'collections' and 'objects', surfacing how many were born in violence and extractive logics — and how access can itself replicate harm. The authors propose refusal as an ethical method, anchored in Indigenous-influenced methodologies, building 'opacity protocols' that question the assumption that all knowledge must be revealed.

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Danu Poyner

Danu is a writer and founder of Grokkist, a learning community in the deepest sense. His work centres on coherence, curiosity, and helping people make sense of themselves in relation to ideas, experience, and one another.

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