Month: April 2010

NAGPRA Repatriation Roundtable at University of Michigan — April 9

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

REPATRIATION ROUNDTABLE

MOVING TOWARDS THE FUTURE

Friday, April 9

2:30-3:30pm

4448 East Hall

With the new federal regulations of Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) regarding “culturally unidentifiable” human remains becoming law in May, this roundtable, sponsored by the Ethnography-as-Activism Repatriation Subgroup, seeks to explore the University of Michigan’s future in the process of implementing these new regulations.

Please join us for short presentations from our panelists followed by what we hope is an engaging conversation.

Speakers:

  • Dean Toni Antonucci
    • Chair, Advisory Committee on Culturally Unidentifiable Human Remains (CUHR) under NAGPRA; Associate Vice President for Research – Social Sciences and Humanities; Professor, Department of Psychology; and Research Professor, Institute for Social Research
  • Professor Wenona Singel
    • Assistant Professor of Law & Associate Director of the Indigenous Law & Policy Center at Michigan State University
  • Professor Stuart Kirsch
    • Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, UM

For more information about our group and about NAGPRA, please visit our website:


“The institution could not have a future with tribes until it had resolved its past”
Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh, Anthropology News, March 2010

Wilma Mankiller Walks On

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

From Tsalagi Think Tank:

This message just went out to tribal employees at Cherokee Nation.  Please lift up Wilma’s family in your prayers.  Unbelievably huge loss for the Cherokee Nation.

Our personal and national hearts are heavy with sorrow and sadness with the passing this morning of Wilma Mankiller, our former Principal Chief.  We feel overwhelmed and lost when we realize she has left us but we should reflect on what legacy she leaves us. We are better people and a stronger tribal nation because her example of Cherokee leadership, statesmanship, humility, grace, determination and decisiveness.  When we become disheartened, we will be inspired by remembering how Wilma proceeded undaunted through so many trials and tribulations. Years ago, she and her husband Charlie Soap showed the world what Cherokee people can do when given the chance, when they organized the self-help water line in the Bell community She said Cherokees in that community learned that it was their choice, their lives, their community and their future. Her gift to us is the lesson that our lives and future are for us to decide. We can carry on that Cherokee legacy by teaching our children that lesson.  Please keep Charlie, Gina and Felicia in your prayers.  Wilma asked that any gifts in her honor be made as donations to One Fire Development Corporation, a non-profit dedicated to advancing Native American communities though economic development, and to valuing the wisdom that exists within each of the diverse tribal communities around the world.  Tax deductible donations can be made at http://www.wilmamankiller.com as well as http://www.onefiredevelopment.org.   The mailing address for One Fire Development Corporation is 1220 Southmore  Houston, TX 77004.   Details of her memorial service will be forthcoming.

Check http://www.cherokee.org for news on services.

Section 1983 Claim against Tribal Police Dismissed

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Ouart v. Fleming (W.D. Okla.):

Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment

Co-Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss

Plaintiff’s Response

DCT Order Granting Motion

Shingle Springs Petition for Review Denied

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here is the news article via Pechanga announcing the California Supreme Court’s order. And here are the briefs:

Shingle Springs Petition for Review

Answer to Petition for Review

Galanda and Broadman on Indian Gaming Transactions in Rough Times

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here: Gaming Transactions in Indian Country.

Elizabeth Barrett Ristroph on Climate Change and Alaska Tribes’ Subsistence Rights

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Elizabeth Barrett Ristroph of the North Slope Borough Legal Department has posted “Alaska Tribes’ Melting Subsistence Rights” on BEPress.

Here is the abstract:

Climate change impacts subsistence-dependent Alaska Natives more than Lower 48 Natives and other United States populations because (1) the effects of climate change on land and wildlife are more severe in Alaska than elsewhere in the U.S.; and (2) compared to Lower 48 tribes, Alaska tribes have less control over land and wildlife needed for subsistence.

Carole Goldberg on Justice Ginsburg’s Indian Law Decisions

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Carole Goldberg published “Finding the Way to Indian Country: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Decisions in Indian Law Cases,” in the Ohio State Law Journal.

This, along with Al Ziontz’s recollection of the ACLU‘s split over how to approach Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez during then-Professor Ginsburg’s tenure as head of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, is critical reading.

Cross Motions in Pueblo Water Dispute

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The case is State of New Mexico ex rel. State Engineer v. Abbott (D. N.M.):

Ohkay Owingeh Motion

Truchas Acequias Motion

City of Espanola Motion

Texas History Textbook Changes

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From the Onion:

Texas’ New Textbooks

Because of a belief that academia skews too far to the left, the Texas Board of Education voted 10 to 5 in favor of buying history and social studies textbooks that adhere to a more conservative ideology. Here are some of the changes they are mandating:

  • Inserting paragraph clarifying that the poor guy Rosa Parks wouldn’t give up her seat for was on crutches and really needed to give his dogs a rest; also, he later died
  • More focus on civic issues, particularly the separation of church and infidel
  • Discussion of the debate between liberal and conservative geologists about what constitutes an “igneous” rock
  • Tamping down traditional pro-Stalin stance
  • Special ethnic world history appendix
  • Expanded section on Latino contribution to American landscaping
  • Dividing number of Vietnamese civilian casualties by two due to their small stature
  • Christopher Columbus was for lower taxes but all the Native Americans he encountered wanted to do was spend, spend, spend

Minnesota Files Opposition to PL280-Related Cert Petition

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here: Minnesota Cert Opposition.

The petition and other materials are here.