“Marginalized in Mississippi: Addressing disparities and invisible data in missing persons cases”
“Marginalized in Mississippi: Addressing disparities and invisible data in missing persons cases”
Dr. Jesse Goliath
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures
Mississippi State University
Senior Research Associate – Cobb Institute of Archaeology
Thursday February 27th at 6:00 PM
101 Buttrick Hall
Abstract:
Currently, Mississippi lacks state laws requiring the reporting of missing adults or mandating the entry of missing persons and unidentified human remains data into local and federal databases. This absence has resulted in a significant gap in reliable data on missing and unidentified persons within the state. The Mississippi Repository for Missing and Unidentified Persons was established to identify, resolve, and archive such cases. With over 1,700 missing persons profiles, the repository calls attention to the challenges posed by socioeconomic and health disparities that disproportionately affect missing persons, especially those from marginalized communities. This talk will address the biocultural approaches used to examine structural inequality, providing critical insights into why individuals remain missing or unidentified in rural communities.
Bio: Dr. Jesse Goliath is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures and a Senior Research Associate for the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State University. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and has done extensive forensic casework for city, state, and federal agencies. Dr. Goliath is the Founding Director of the Mississippi Repository for Missing and Unidentified Persons Project and a consulting Forensic Anthropologist for Mississippi. His research examines the social determinants of missing and addresses the issues of structural violence and the visibility of marginalized groups within the medicolegal system. His research also encompasses skeletal biology, particularly its applications in forensic anthropology, microscopy, functional morphology, and bone biomechanics. Dr. Goliath employs the principles of bone functional adaptation to explore the relationship between developmental changes in bone structure and the mechanical loads experienced throughout life.
