Towards a spectral forensics: spirits as epistemic resources inresponses to the dead and missing

The ‘forensic turn’ in transitional justice has seen technologies ofidentification, notably DNA, become an essential part ofrecommended responses to missing and disappeared persons inthe afermath of violent conflict. There is now a widespreadassumption that these technologies will deliver anincontrovertible ‘forensic truth’ that will instantiate families’ ‘rightto know’ the fate of their loved ones and benefit society as awhole. However, in many contexts a lack of technical andfinancial resources limits the use of such approaches, while inmuch of the majority world, indigenous techniques, notablythose that involve communication with the spirits of the dead,provide an alternative route to understanding the fate andwhereabouts of the missing. In this article we introduce the term‘spectral forensics’ as way to explore approaches to ‘knowing’the missing that engage with the spirit realm. We engage withempirical evidence to explore the scope and reach ofcontemporary spectral forensics. We argue that there is muchthat can be learned from spectral forensics about alternativeunderstandings of truth, justice, and peace, which could avoidover-privileging exhumation and identification models based oninternational forensic expertise.