Upcoming lecture "Aux marges de la notion d'humanité - Fossiles et restes humains" (University of Geneva)

Between 22 September and 17 October 2025, I will be staying at the Art-Law Centre of the University of Geneva (CH) as the 2024 Lalive Merryman Fellow. During my research stay, I will be working on the legal classification of human remains, and the extent to which hominin fossils (e.g., from the Neanderthals or Homo erectus) can be considered as such.

As the Lalive Merryman Fellow, I will have the honour of delivering a public lecture in a gorgeous building,¹ followed by an apéritif hosted by the Art-Law Centre. In my lecture, I will present preliminary findings about the principal question of my fellowship: To what extent can hominin fossils be considered human remains in the eyes of the law? I am, of course, not the first person to ask this question but I do think it deserves a more thorough treatment, both doctrinally and conceptually. After all, raising this question confronts us with the boundaries of the notion of humanity (in a legal sense, at least).

You can download the flyer for the lecture here. As far as the essentials are concerned:

• What: Lecture (in French) with Q&A, titled “Aux marges de la notion d’humanité : Fossiles et restes humains”
• When: 2 October 2025, 18:00 - 19:00 (please register via this link)
• Where: Bâtiment des Philosophes, Salle Jeanne Hersch (Room 201 – second floor), University of Geneva
• Abstract: In 1921, miners in the British colony of Northern Rhodesia discovered a hominin skull. Known today as Kabwe 1 or Broken Hill skull, it belonged to a Homo heidelbergensis who lived in modern-day Zambia around 300,000 years ago. The skull remains on display at the Natural History Museum in London, despite return claims from Zambia since the 1970s. In a session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation in 2024, the representative of Zambia claimed the skull as the remains of an ancestor of the people who live in Kabwe today. This unprecedented claim to the remains of an individual outside the species Homo sapiens raises the question to what extent hominin fossils can be considered human remains in a legal sense. This lecture will tackle that question. On a doctrinal level, it will assess comparatively where hominin fossils fit in the variety of legal frameworks that govern human remains on the international level and across domestic jurisdiction. On a conceptual level, it will use hominin fossils as a case study of the challenges legal classification faces when confronted with an ambiguous substance.

P.S.: I will give another lecture about human remains and the pitfalls of their legal classification which will be streamed live. If you’re interested, follow this link for more information.