(S3, E7) Kim Kardashian, Marilyn Monroe and a Catalogue of Human Remains

This week on Pop Culture Boner, we’ve accidentally ended up doing another Kardashian based episode following her controversial wearing of Marilyn Monroe’s iconic Happy Birthday, Mr President dress. We did get a little weird with it though - we’re looking at museums, “odditoriums” and the policies that govern the collection and cataloguing of human remains in public institutions.

You can find a list of references here:

• Cathlin Bryn Goulding (2021, Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy) - Into the odditorium: A pedagogy of the body at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! and in popular media

• Laurie Brookins (2022, The Hollywood Reporter) - Critic’s Notebook: Kim Kardashian Should Have Left History — and Marilyn Monroe’s Dress — Alone

• Nardine Saad and Deborah Vankin (2022, The Los Angeles Times) - Conservators ‘speechless’ that Kim Kardashian wore Marilyn Monroe’s dress to Met Gala

• Allison C. Meier (2019, JSTOR Daily) - Should Museums Display Shrunken Heads?

• Colton Kruse (2018, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not) - Up Close With A Jivaro Shrunken Head

• The British Museum - Human Remains Policy

• The British Museum - Request for repatriation of human remains to the Torres Strait Islands, Australia

• Emma Louise Backe (2014, The Geek Anthropologist) - The History Behind ‘American Horror Story: Freak Show’

• Neda Ulaby (2006, NPR) -

You can find a full transcript here.