Lyra Monteiro
@intersectionist.bsky.social
www.FindingCeremony.com
My gender is "nope": http://medium.com/p/c6a1c0f8176d
PhD Brown University, Joukowsky Institute for Archeology; MA Public Humanities, American Studies
MA University of Michigan IPCAA
My gender is "nope": http://medium.com/p/c6a1c0f8176d
PhD Brown University, Joukowsky Institute for Archeology; MA Public Humanities, American Studies
MA University of Michigan IPCAA
URGENT:
We may be facing an illegal eviction. It's a Saturday night and we've only just found out.
If you know a housing attorney in NYC, who we could speak to re: the situation before Monday, please lmk, or send them my email lyra.d.monteiro at gmail (DM for my phone number).
We may be facing an illegal eviction. It's a Saturday night and we've only just found out.
If you know a housing attorney in NYC, who we could speak to re: the situation before Monday, please lmk, or send them my email lyra.d.monteiro at gmail (DM for my phone number).
September 21, 2025 at 12:23 AM
URGENT:
We may be facing an illegal eviction. It's a Saturday night and we've only just found out.
If you know a housing attorney in NYC, who we could speak to re: the situation before Monday, please lmk, or send them my email lyra.d.monteiro at gmail (DM for my phone number).
We may be facing an illegal eviction. It's a Saturday night and we've only just found out.
If you know a housing attorney in NYC, who we could speak to re: the situation before Monday, please lmk, or send them my email lyra.d.monteiro at gmail (DM for my phone number).
Reposted by Lyra Monteiro
@mxabdulaliy.bsky.social and I wrote a letter to the editor which ran in @inquirer.com today re: the Mütter Museum’s horrifyingly regressive new Human Remains Policy.
The Mütter Museum needs to close.
#FindingCeremony
web.archive.org/web/20250902...
The Mütter Museum needs to close.
#FindingCeremony
web.archive.org/web/20250902...
Letters to the Editor | Sept. 2, 2025
Inquirer readers on the Mütter Museum and the Hanwha shipyard in South Philadelphia.
web.archive.org
September 2, 2025 at 1:36 PM
@mxabdulaliy.bsky.social and I wrote a letter to the editor which ran in @inquirer.com today re: the Mütter Museum’s horrifyingly regressive new Human Remains Policy.
The Mütter Museum needs to close.
#FindingCeremony
web.archive.org/web/20250902...
The Mütter Museum needs to close.
#FindingCeremony
web.archive.org/web/20250902...
Reposted by Lyra Monteiro
It's an embarrassment to Philly.
@mxabdulaliy.bsky.social and I wrote a letter to the editor which ran in @inquirer.com today re: the Mütter Museum’s horrifyingly regressive new Human Remains Policy.
The Mütter Museum needs to close.
#FindingCeremony
web.archive.org/web/20250902...
The Mütter Museum needs to close.
#FindingCeremony
web.archive.org/web/20250902...
Letters to the Editor | Sept. 2, 2025
Inquirer readers on the Mütter Museum and the Hanwha shipyard in South Philadelphia.
web.archive.org
September 2, 2025 at 2:39 PM
It's an embarrassment to Philly.
@mxabdulaliy.bsky.social and I wrote a letter to the editor which ran in @inquirer.com today re: the Mütter Museum’s horrifyingly regressive new Human Remains Policy.
The Mütter Museum needs to close.
#FindingCeremony
web.archive.org/web/20250902...
The Mütter Museum needs to close.
#FindingCeremony
web.archive.org/web/20250902...
Letters to the Editor | Sept. 2, 2025
Inquirer readers on the Mütter Museum and the Hanwha shipyard in South Philadelphia.
web.archive.org
September 2, 2025 at 1:36 PM
@mxabdulaliy.bsky.social and I wrote a letter to the editor which ran in @inquirer.com today re: the Mütter Museum’s horrifyingly regressive new Human Remains Policy.
The Mütter Museum needs to close.
#FindingCeremony
web.archive.org/web/20250902...
The Mütter Museum needs to close.
#FindingCeremony
web.archive.org/web/20250902...
Reposted by Lyra Monteiro
I think if Britain colonised your country of origin you should get free BBC iplayer.
August 29, 2025 at 7:51 AM
I think if Britain colonised your country of origin you should get free BBC iplayer.
Reposted by Lyra Monteiro
"The issue isn't whether we should or shouldn't exhibit human remains, but rather can we do so in a way that does justice to these individuals."- Sara Ray, director IE
No, you can't do so! Because in the end, you're still displaying their stolen bones! So whose version of justice is this?
No, you can't do so! Because in the end, you're still displaying their stolen bones! So whose version of justice is this?
August 21, 2025 at 3:47 PM
"The issue isn't whether we should or shouldn't exhibit human remains, but rather can we do so in a way that does justice to these individuals."- Sara Ray, director IE
No, you can't do so! Because in the end, you're still displaying their stolen bones! So whose version of justice is this?
No, you can't do so! Because in the end, you're still displaying their stolen bones! So whose version of justice is this?
Reposted by Lyra Monteiro
This is less of a human remains policy and more of a "we'll add more label text admitting that the bones were stolen in the first place."
The Mütter Museum has adopted a new policy for its displays of human remains. It will also restore hundreds of videos and exhibits that had been taken down.
Mütter Museum is changing the way it collects and displays human remains
After a few contentious years, the museum is adopting a more holistic approach instead of focusing only on specimens and the medical condition they represent.
www.inquirer.com
August 21, 2025 at 3:40 PM
This is less of a human remains policy and more of a "we'll add more label text admitting that the bones were stolen in the first place."
Reposted by Lyra Monteiro
If you're writing a syllabus in anthropology, public history/humanities, museum studies, etc., please consider these pieces about #FindingCeremony:
1. This short intro which I co-authored with Finding Ceremony's Co-Convener, @mxabdulaliy.bsky.social in @SAPIENS_org: www.sapiens.org/biology/find...
1. This short intro which I co-authored with Finding Ceremony's Co-Convener, @mxabdulaliy.bsky.social in @SAPIENS_org: www.sapiens.org/biology/find...
Finding Ceremony for Ancestors Held in the Penn Museum and Other Colonial Institutions
An anthropologist and an organizer try to connect descendant communities with the remains of 20 Black Philadelphians slated for court-ordered burial.
www.sapiens.org
August 13, 2025 at 12:56 PM
If you're writing a syllabus in anthropology, public history/humanities, museum studies, etc., please consider these pieces about #FindingCeremony:
1. This short intro which I co-authored with Finding Ceremony's Co-Convener, @mxabdulaliy.bsky.social in @SAPIENS_org: www.sapiens.org/biology/find...
1. This short intro which I co-authored with Finding Ceremony's Co-Convener, @mxabdulaliy.bsky.social in @SAPIENS_org: www.sapiens.org/biology/find...
Reposted by Lyra Monteiro
For classicists, historians, and others concerned with the politics of the past, here are links for my work on American whyte supremacy and ancient Greece and Rome that are frequently taught:
1. This January 2021 @hyperallergic.com op ed:
hyperallergic.com/614175/how-a...
1. This January 2021 @hyperallergic.com op ed:
hyperallergic.com/614175/how-a...
How a Trump Executive Order Aims to Set White Supremacy in Stone
In the recent tumult many seem to have missed how a recent executive order on “Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture” looks to enshrine the success of the 2017 “Unite the Right” in Charlottes...
hyperallergic.com
August 13, 2025 at 1:03 PM
For classicists, historians, and others concerned with the politics of the past, here are links for my work on American whyte supremacy and ancient Greece and Rome that are frequently taught:
1. This January 2021 @hyperallergic.com op ed:
hyperallergic.com/614175/how-a...
1. This January 2021 @hyperallergic.com op ed:
hyperallergic.com/614175/how-a...
Syllabus material for Fall 2025 (and beyond!)
For classicists, historians, and others concerned with the politics of the past, here are links for my work on American whyte supremacy and ancient Greece and Rome that are frequently taught:
1. This January 2021 @hyperallergic.com op ed:
hyperallergic.com/614175/how-a...
1. This January 2021 @hyperallergic.com op ed:
hyperallergic.com/614175/how-a...
How a Trump Executive Order Aims to Set White Supremacy in Stone
In the recent tumult many seem to have missed how a recent executive order on “Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture” looks to enshrine the success of the 2017 “Unite the Right” in Charlottes...
hyperallergic.com
August 13, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Syllabus material for Fall 2025 (and beyond!)
If you're writing a syllabus in anthropology, public history/humanities, museum studies, etc., please consider these pieces about #FindingCeremony:
1. This short intro which I co-authored with Finding Ceremony's Co-Convener, @mxabdulaliy.bsky.social in @SAPIENS_org: www.sapiens.org/biology/find...
1. This short intro which I co-authored with Finding Ceremony's Co-Convener, @mxabdulaliy.bsky.social in @SAPIENS_org: www.sapiens.org/biology/find...
Finding Ceremony for Ancestors Held in the Penn Museum and Other Colonial Institutions
An anthropologist and an organizer try to connect descendant communities with the remains of 20 Black Philadelphians slated for court-ordered burial.
www.sapiens.org
August 13, 2025 at 12:56 PM
If you're writing a syllabus in anthropology, public history/humanities, museum studies, etc., please consider these pieces about #FindingCeremony:
1. This short intro which I co-authored with Finding Ceremony's Co-Convener, @mxabdulaliy.bsky.social in @SAPIENS_org: www.sapiens.org/biology/find...
1. This short intro which I co-authored with Finding Ceremony's Co-Convener, @mxabdulaliy.bsky.social in @SAPIENS_org: www.sapiens.org/biology/find...
CW: more theft of human remains by a Philly museum + medical examiner in the 1980s.
Tell me again why it’s ok for this museum to exist.
And if they go public with this, think about what isn’t being shared—maybe isn’t even known yet, by current leadership.
#FindingCeremony
Tell me again why it’s ok for this museum to exist.
And if they go public with this, think about what isn’t being shared—maybe isn’t even known yet, by current leadership.
#FindingCeremony
Forty-five years after the mummified remains of five children were found in a southwest Pennsylvania attic, the truth of how two of their skulls came to be stored in the stacks the Mütter Museum is still unfolding.
Two babies’ skulls found at Mütter Museum linked to Gallitzin, Pa. murder mystery from 1980
The world believed the five infants found in Stella Williamson's attic had been put to rest. Decades later, the truth is still unfolding.
www.inquirer.com
July 29, 2025 at 12:00 PM
CW: more theft of human remains by a Philly museum + medical examiner in the 1980s.
Tell me again why it’s ok for this museum to exist.
And if they go public with this, think about what isn’t being shared—maybe isn’t even known yet, by current leadership.
#FindingCeremony
Tell me again why it’s ok for this museum to exist.
And if they go public with this, think about what isn’t being shared—maybe isn’t even known yet, by current leadership.
#FindingCeremony
Reposted by Lyra Monteiro
they got thesw skulls in 1999??? y'all, just play the recording of me last the mütter town hall meeting at the next one. just play it on loop until the end of time and all the stolen bones are laid to rest
Forty-five years after the mummified remains of five children were found in a southwest Pennsylvania attic, the truth of how two of their skulls came to be stored in the stacks the Mütter Museum is still unfolding.
Two babies’ skulls found at Mütter Museum linked to Gallitzin, Pa. murder mystery from 1980
The world believed the five infants found in Stella Williamson's attic had been put to rest. Decades later, the truth is still unfolding.
www.inquirer.com
July 28, 2025 at 4:38 PM
they got thesw skulls in 1999??? y'all, just play the recording of me last the mütter town hall meeting at the next one. just play it on loop until the end of time and all the stolen bones are laid to rest
Reposted by Lyra Monteiro
Do you hear this, Mütter Museum???
“Putting human remains on display is unethical, especially when no consent has been given,” she added. “I think removing the display of these items ultimately changes the culture, goes some way to look at them with some form of respect.”
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
Ancestral remains should no longer be displayed in UK museums, say MPs
Remains brought to Britain as part of colonialism, such as Egyptian mummies, should be repatriated, a report says
www.theguardian.com
March 12, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Do you hear this, Mütter Museum???
Reposted by Lyra Monteiro
Thanks for recommending! Just to clarify, there are no images of human remains accompanying the piece; the photos are of wax or plaster models. (But they look close enough that the warning is appropriate!)
June 30, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Thanks for recommending! Just to clarify, there are no images of human remains accompanying the piece; the photos are of wax or plaster models. (But they look close enough that the warning is appropriate!)
TW: link has images of human remains
Excellent piece in today's @newyorker.com by @rachelmonroe.bsky.social re: Philadelphia's Mutter Museum.
No coincidence it's in the same city that was home to Samuel George Morton & is home to the Penn Museum.
#FindingCeremony
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Excellent piece in today's @newyorker.com by @rachelmonroe.bsky.social re: Philadelphia's Mutter Museum.
No coincidence it's in the same city that was home to Samuel George Morton & is home to the Penn Museum.
#FindingCeremony
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
June 30, 2025 at 9:52 PM
TW: link has images of human remains
Excellent piece in today's @newyorker.com by @rachelmonroe.bsky.social re: Philadelphia's Mutter Museum.
No coincidence it's in the same city that was home to Samuel George Morton & is home to the Penn Museum.
#FindingCeremony
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Excellent piece in today's @newyorker.com by @rachelmonroe.bsky.social re: Philadelphia's Mutter Museum.
No coincidence it's in the same city that was home to Samuel George Morton & is home to the Penn Museum.
#FindingCeremony
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Reposted by Lyra Monteiro
With thanks to @mxabdulaliy.bsky.social, @intersectionist.bsky.social, @geedee215.bsky.social, @hystericalblkns.bsky.social, @philaprint.bsky.social, and everyone else working to make sure MOVE and its people aren't forgotten
religiondispatches.org/remembering-...
religiondispatches.org/remembering-...
Remembering ‘MOVE' as American religion on the 40th anniversary of Philadelphia bombing its own residents
Forty years ago today, the city of Philadelphia dropped a bomb on itself.
The city of Philadelphia let that fire burn for more than a day while firetrucks and firefighters stood watching the flames d...
religiondispatches.org
May 13, 2025 at 8:32 PM
With thanks to @mxabdulaliy.bsky.social, @intersectionist.bsky.social, @geedee215.bsky.social, @hystericalblkns.bsky.social, @philaprint.bsky.social, and everyone else working to make sure MOVE and its people aren't forgotten
religiondispatches.org/remembering-...
religiondispatches.org/remembering-...
Anyone have access to the Philadelphia Inquirer & able to send me a PDF of this article that was published today? inquirer.com/health/move-...
re: Katricia Dotson's brother's lawsuit against Penn for keeping his sister's remains after she was murdered in the MOVE bombing.
lyra.d.monteiro at gmail
re: Katricia Dotson's brother's lawsuit against Penn for keeping his sister's remains after she was murdered in the MOVE bombing.
lyra.d.monteiro at gmail
Penn settles a lawsuit over its handling of the remains of a MOVE bombing victim
Lionell Dotson had contended that the school kept the remains of his sister Katricia after she was killed in the 1985 bombing of the Black liberation group’s West Philadelphia headquarters.
inquirer.com
April 24, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Anyone have access to the Philadelphia Inquirer & able to send me a PDF of this article that was published today? inquirer.com/health/move-...
re: Katricia Dotson's brother's lawsuit against Penn for keeping his sister's remains after she was murdered in the MOVE bombing.
lyra.d.monteiro at gmail
re: Katricia Dotson's brother's lawsuit against Penn for keeping his sister's remains after she was murdered in the MOVE bombing.
lyra.d.monteiro at gmail
lol fb failed this assignment by just leaving the question blank 😩—can Bluesky do any better? I know that such books exist--I've seen one! Just dunno where to find them...
March 14, 2025 at 5:07 PM
lol fb failed this assignment by just leaving the question blank 😩—can Bluesky do any better? I know that such books exist--I've seen one! Just dunno where to find them...
It's #WomensHistoryMonth so I'm sharing this short piece I wrote about my experience of gender as a not-woman who lived as a woman for most of my adult life:
My gender is ‘nope.’ medium.com/p/my-gender-...
My gender is ‘nope.’ medium.com/p/my-gender-...
My gender is “nope.”
When I figured out my own gender, at 36 years old, my gender stopped making sense to pretty much everybody else.
medium.com
March 11, 2025 at 3:11 PM
It's #WomensHistoryMonth so I'm sharing this short piece I wrote about my experience of gender as a not-woman who lived as a woman for most of my adult life:
My gender is ‘nope.’ medium.com/p/my-gender-...
My gender is ‘nope.’ medium.com/p/my-gender-...
The list on the webpage has been updated to reflect the expenses we still need help covering--anything you can offer to support the work of caring for ancestors who are currently held as the property of the Penn Museum, is appreciated--including a retweet! #FindingCeremony
We've just posted an updated list of #FindingCeremony ongoing expenses on our website--please share this post and contribute if you can! Amounts range from $8.80 to $174.54: findingceremony.com/support-find...
Support Finding Ceremony’s Ongoing Costs
Finding Ceremony is a reparationist project that needs to be funded by the University of Pennsylvania. Although we plan to pursue grant funding in the meantime, and all labor is being done on a vol…
findingceremony.com
February 21, 2025 at 8:06 PM
The list on the webpage has been updated to reflect the expenses we still need help covering--anything you can offer to support the work of caring for ancestors who are currently held as the property of the Penn Museum, is appreciated--including a retweet! #FindingCeremony
Reposted by Lyra Monteiro
We've just posted an updated list of #FindingCeremony ongoing expenses on our website--please share this post and contribute if you can! Amounts range from $8.80 to $174.54: findingceremony.com/support-find...
Support Finding Ceremony’s Ongoing Costs
Finding Ceremony is a reparationist project that needs to be funded by the University of Pennsylvania. Although we plan to pursue grant funding in the meantime, and all labor is being done on a vol…
findingceremony.com
February 13, 2025 at 1:54 AM
We've just posted an updated list of #FindingCeremony ongoing expenses on our website--please share this post and contribute if you can! Amounts range from $8.80 to $174.54: findingceremony.com/support-find...
Reposted by Lyra Monteiro
So grateful for a large contribution that has allowed us to cover many of #FindingCeremony Zoom, travel, and mail merge costs from 2024.
The webpage is now updated with remaining expenses (incl some in these areas--don't worry, they aren't duplicates!): findingceremony.com/support-find...
The webpage is now updated with remaining expenses (incl some in these areas--don't worry, they aren't duplicates!): findingceremony.com/support-find...
Support Finding Ceremony’s Ongoing Costs
Finding Ceremony is a reparationist project that needs to be funded by the University of Pennsylvania. Although we plan to pursue grant funding in the meantime, and all labor is being done on a vol…
findingceremony.com
February 14, 2025 at 7:07 PM
So grateful for a large contribution that has allowed us to cover many of #FindingCeremony Zoom, travel, and mail merge costs from 2024.
The webpage is now updated with remaining expenses (incl some in these areas--don't worry, they aren't duplicates!): findingceremony.com/support-find...
The webpage is now updated with remaining expenses (incl some in these areas--don't worry, they aren't duplicates!): findingceremony.com/support-find...
Reposted by Lyra Monteiro
If you live in New York State and think Gov. Kathy Hochul should remove the corrupt mayor of NYC, give her a call or send her a letter.
February 13, 2025 at 11:24 PM
If you live in New York State and think Gov. Kathy Hochul should remove the corrupt mayor of NYC, give her a call or send her a letter.
Reposted by Lyra Monteiro
🏺 📜 If you’re a museum professional or archaeologist who is committed to more ethical practices in our sector, the least you can do is donate to a group that is on the ground doing the work to centre descendants in calls for repatriation.
We've just posted an updated list of #FindingCeremony ongoing expenses on our website--please share this post and contribute if you can! Amounts range from $8.80 to $174.54: findingceremony.com/support-find...
Support Finding Ceremony’s Ongoing Costs
Finding Ceremony is a reparationist project that needs to be funded by the University of Pennsylvania. Although we plan to pursue grant funding in the meantime, and all labor is being done on a vol…
findingceremony.com
February 13, 2025 at 7:48 AM
🏺 📜 If you’re a museum professional or archaeologist who is committed to more ethical practices in our sector, the least you can do is donate to a group that is on the ground doing the work to centre descendants in calls for repatriation.