Press Release – 2010 Powwow
ANN ARBOR, MI—For the second year in a row, the University of Michigan campus will not hear the sound of powwow drums, singing, and jingle dancing. Nor will it host some 5,000 Native dancers, drummers, artisans and other powwow people at the annual event—one of the largest student run powwows in the country.
The Native American Student Association (NASA) at the University of Michigan announces its decision to keep the Dance for Mother Earth Powwow from the campus of the University of Michigan. The 38th Annual Dance for Mother Earth Powwow again will be held at Saline Middle School April 10-11, 2010.
The reason? In honor of their ancestors, they are continuing their protest of the University’s ongoing failure to return ancestral human remains to tribes—and to meet federal requirements to engage tribes towards that end.
According to federal inventories, the University Of Michigan Museum Of Anthropology holds 1,390 individuals in its archaeology “collection.” Despite three years of advocacy on the part of many tribal, student and faculty groups, archaeology curators have been steadfast in resisting legal and ethical calls for the reburial of these individuals. Michigan tribes have officially and unofficially notified the museum that by failing to proactively pursue consultation with tribes, the university is in violation of a federal law. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, passed in 1990, requires museums to conduct tribal consultation and to apply due diligence in obtaining it.
Last October—nearly two decades after NAGPRA was passed—U of M got serious about developing appropriate protocols about Native human remains in its “collection.” The U announced the formation of a committee to develop “advice that is pro-active, respectful and responsive to all interested parties.*
Yet Native students decided it was important to make this gesture of love and respect for the nearly 1,400 old ones who are trapped in boxes on museum shelves.
“The university has made a great stride in the formation of a committee to review the issues surrounding our ancestral remains being kept in their museum,” said Alys Alley, co-chair of the Native American Student Association, which puts on the powwow every year. “That being said, the American Indian students at the University of Michigan will not be satisfied until all of our ancestors are returned to their rightful graves.”
There are 12 federally recognized tribes in Michigan, all part of the Anishinaabe people (Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi). Disrupting and emptying graves in this way is a solemn violation of Anishinaabe spiritual beliefs.
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was created to be human rights legislation, not science vs. culture. Students are advocating for the human rights of their ancestors, and for the human rights of those in the campus community. Students, faculty and staff need to know their university upholds the same legal and ethical standards for all people, and all research.
The Native students and community have had decades of struggle and conflict with the University. Issues with Michiguama, mismanagement of the tuition waiver, refusal to return ancestral remains, tenure of faculty, and lack of respect and support of staff and students. These issues have created a lot of distrust and tension hampering the working relationship between students and the university in planning the powwow. Over the years the powwow had transitioned from a Native community event to becoming the University’s “diversity” showcase. In an effort to move the powwow back to its traditional origins, the students felt it was necessary to take it away from the bureaucratic strong-arm of the University. In 2009, NASA decided to decline $50,000 in funding from the Division of Student Affairs and Multi Ethnic Student Affairs office at the university and move the powwow off campus for the first time in years. This spring, Native students at U of M are holding the powwow again in Saline.
The overwhelming success of last year’s powwow in Saline also showed Native students that moving the event was the right thing to do. Attendance was high, dancers and drum groups filled the powwow circle, and powwow fans offered students much moral support. Saline Middle School staff also helped pull off the event with very little notice.
“It was a sacrifice to switch the powwow location last year,” said Andrea Hebner, co-chair of the 2010 Powwow. “We turned down $50,000 in university funding and, no, it was not as financially successful as powwows we’ve had in Crisler Arena. To maintain the powwow off campus is a huge decision, and it is one we have not taken lightly. To us, it has been more important to stick with what we believe in, even if we have to work twice as hard to realize our goal. “
“This has been quite a year to look at how Michigan treats Native students and issues of students of color generally,” Alley added. “When the dioramas came down, many teachers worried about being ill-equipped to teach their students about American Indians. Our powwow is the perfect opportunity for those teachers to give their students a first-hand experience with American Indian culture, rather than settling for Happy Meal figurines in a glass container. We hope next year we’ll be able to dance for our ancestors on campus.”
*http://research.umich.edu/ovpr/accuhr/
The Dance for Mother Earth Pow Wow schedule:
–April 10: Doors open at 10:30 a.m.; ceremonial grand entries at noon and 7 p.m. Activities continue until 10 p.m.;
–April 11: Doors open at 10:30 a.m .; grand entry at noon. Pow Wow closes at 6 p.m.
Ticket prices for the family-friendly event are: $10 per day for adults; $7 per day for students ages 13-17 with ID and college students with ID; $5 per day for seniors ages 60 and older, and for children 6-12; children 5 and under are admitted without charge. Daily family passes are available for $25 and weekend passes may be purchased by students for $10 and for adults $15.Group sales (for groups of 10 or more) are sold in advance for students, seniors and children 6-12 at $5 and adults at $7 per individual.
Turtle Talk 