As Rudolf Pöch prepared to leave Southern Africa in 1910, he left behind a legacy of exhumed graves, stolen bones, and silenced voices. But he also left behind a trail — one that leads, unexpectedly, to a small cemetery in Kuruman and a moment of reckoning.In this final episode, Unburied follows the remains of Klaas and Trooi Pienaar, two ordinary people caught in an extraordinary story. Thanks to the disturbing decisions of Pöch’s assistant Mr. Mehnarto, their bodies — packed in barrels of salt — were preserved and labeled. Unlike the hundreds of others, their names survived.We follow the global effort to return their remains: from a conference in Vienna that turned into a reckoning, to a ceremonial reburial we are reminded why this matters: “As long as they don’t rest, we can’t rest.”Unburied is a production by ARC in partnership with Iziko Museums of South Africa. Written, produced and sound designed by Rasmus Bitsch and Neil Liddell.ARC Angel FacebookInstagramTiktok Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Unburied S1E3: The Swedish Curse
In the 1970s, a bookish young man was sorting shelves in a dusty library in apartheid South Africa. He noticed something strange — the way books were classified looked eerily similar to the way people were categorized outside. Years later, he would link that system back to a name few in his community had heard: Carl Linnaeus. In this episode, Unburied follows the legacy of racial classification from Sweden to the Kalahari, and into the hands of Austrian anthropologist Rudolf Pöch. With insights from Nama crowned prince Samuel Dawids, anthropologist Alan Morris, historian Ciraj Rassool, and researcher Anette Hoffmann, we trace how systems of knowledge were used to rank, reduce, and collect human beings — all in the name of science.Unburied is a production by ARC in partnership with Iziko Museums of South Africa. Written, produced and sound designed by Rasmus Bitsch and Neil Liddell.ARC Angel FacebookInstagramTiktok Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Unburied S1E2: Voices from the Graves
Inside an archive in Vienna, the grooves of old wax cylinders hold forgotten voices. These are the sonic remains of Rudolf Pöch’s expedition to the Kalahari in the early 1900s.In this episode, we follow the distorted “language samples” Pöch left behind and the people whose lives — and deaths — they documented. From the field expertise of Xhosi Tshai to the frustrated warnings of Kxara the Elder, we finally get a glimpse into a perspective other than the anthropologist’s. With historian Anette Hoffmann, we confront the limits of colonial archives by paying attention to the echoes.Unburied is a production by ARC in partnership with Iziko Museums of South Africa.Written, produced and sound designed by Rasmus Bitsch and Neil Liddell.ARC Angel FacebookInstagramTiktok Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Unburied S1E1: Open Graves and Humans on Display
In 1907, an Austrian anthropologist rode into the Kalahari on an oxwagon and left with bones from more than 170 human beings. This episode begins our investigation into Rudolf Pöch — the man who (unwittingly or not) helped pioneer race science, the communities he studied (and exploited), and the legacy of human remains kept in museum boxes today.We follow Pöch’s trail through the red dunes of the Kalahari, to the archives of Vienna, and into the lives of those living with his legacy. Featuring interviews with community activist Brian Mienies, Rietfontein resident Willie Philander, and historians Walter Sauer and Sophie Schasiepen, this episode asks: why did Rudolf Pöch take all those bones from the Kalahari?Unburied is a production by ARC in partnership with Iziko Museums of South Africa.Written, produced and sound designed by Rasmus Bitsch and Neil Liddell.Become an ARC Angel or visit us at:ARCFacebookInstagramTiktok Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Trailer: Unburied Season 1: Built from Bones
Unburied Season 1: Built from BonesSeason one of the Unburied series retraces the footsteps of Dr. Rudolf Pöch, an Austrian anthropologist who traveled through the Kalahari in the early 20th century. The series investigates how Pöch dug up graves and took the remains from more than 170 indigenous people and used the bones for race science, to justify white supremacy. Unburied seeks to understand what happened in the Kalahari and how those events have shaped the lives of the indigenous communities in the Kalahari and the world at large.Unburied is a new series by ARC coming out very soon. Subscribe now so you don't miss it.Produced in partnership with Iziko Museums of South Africa.Written, produced, and sound designed by Rasmus Bitsch and Neil Liddell.ARC-AngelFacebookInstagramTiktok Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
ARC is a non-profit documentary channel. We tell stories through film and narrative-driven podcasting that explore social justice issues, uncover histories that shape the present, and challenge dominant narratives. Our work amplifies voices often left unheard, creating space for deeper understanding. For more see: https://www.arcdocs.org/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
South Africa