cultural resources

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

Indian Mascots Video re: Clinton, Michigan

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Lake Huron Dig to be Discussed at Michigan Archeological Society Meeting

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

This MAS meeting promises to be somewhat controversial, given that Michigan professor John O’Shea will be discussing his project in Lake Huron, to which two tribes have objected (BMIC and LTBB):

Dr. John O’Shea from the University of Michigan: Evidence of Early Hunters beneath the Waters of Lake Huron

Dr. John O’Shea from University of Michigan will be discussing his current endeavors to locate ancient landscapes preserved beneath the Great Lakes.  Through the use of underwater acoustic and video survey on the Alpena-Amberley ridge, Dr. O’Shea has discovered the presence of a series of stone features that match, in form and location, structures used for caribou hunting in both prehistoric and ethnographic times.

Here are the objections:

BMIC Resolution re Lake Huron

LTBB declaration re underwater dig

Continue reading →

Review of “Facing the Future” in ICT

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here: ICT Facing the Future Review

The text (from ICT):

Copyright Indian Country Today Mar 10, 2010
Review . . .

‘Facing the Future: The Indian Child Welfare Act at 30’ edited by Matthew L.M. Fletcher, Wenona T. Singel, and Kathryn E. Fort

Through the generations, the attempted annihilation of Native families and tribal communities left legacies of survival and resistance, but some of the most persistent practices of colonialism linger, as this book reminds us.

Several of the authors cited in this collection of 12 essays take the U.S. sharply to task for the cultural damage left in the wake of generations of Native children removed from their homes and placed with non-Native people or institutions up to the present day.

“The long history of injustices against indigenous peoples of the Americas is well documented,” notes Professor Lorie M. Graham, Suffolk University Law School. “For purposes of the Indian Child Welfare Act, the relevant historical point would be what one scholar has referred to as the ‘Native American holocaust of the nineteenth century'” when Indian children were removed I from their homes.

Continue reading →

Michigan Daily Article on NAGPRA Compliance

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Daily:

The University is set to begin implementing a process that will see the transfer of Native American human remains to Indian tribes, according to a University press release sent out today.

The decision came after a March 15 ruling by the United States Department of the Interior concerning how museums and other agencies — including the University — should deal with unidentified Native American human remains.

Under the terms of the ruling, unidentifiable remains must be returned to the tribes from whose land the remains were originally excavated, the press release stated.

The University currently possesses about 1,400 unidentified remains, according to the release.

Stephen Forrest, the University’s Vice President for Research, wrote in the release that the University is currently developing a process for the transfer of the remains.

“The rule change announced last week provides a clear path for the transfer of the human remains in our possession,” Forrest wrote in the release. “We will move down that path in a transparent, swift and respectful manner.”

The University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology currently possesses unidentifiable remains from 37 states, according to the release.

Continue reading →

Univ. of Michigan Press Release on NAGPRA Compliance

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here, from the UM Record Update.

The text:

U-M has begun outlining a process for the transfer of Native American human remains to Indian tribes.

Vice President for Research Stephen Forrest said the most recent activities are in response to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s March 15 publication of a final rule clarifying how museums and other agencies — including the university — should handle Native American human remains that are under their control but for which no culturally affiliated Indian tribe has been identified.

Other resources
• Web site of the Advisory Committee on Culturally Unidentifiable Human Remains under NAGPRA
• Culturally Unidentifiable Native American Inventory Database for the U-M Musem of Anthopology

“Now that the Department of the Interior has clarified the rule for transferring culturally unidentifiable human remains, it is important that the university reach out to tribal leaders and facilitate the transfer process,” Forrest said.

Forrest said he anticipates having a process in place by the time the new federal rule takes effect May 14. The university has in its possession the remains of about 1,390 individuals unidentifiable with an existing tribe.

“The rule change recently announced provides a clear path for the transfer of the human remains in our possession,” Forrest said. “We will move down that path in a transparent, swift and respectful manner.” Officials and traditional religious leaders will be included in the consultation process. A letter to relevant tribes will be sent soon. Continue reading →

Tenth Circuit Rejects RFRA Claim re: Autopsy of American Indian

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Opinion in Ross v. Board of Regents for the University of New Mexico here:

08-2253

North Dakota Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument in Fighting Sioux Case

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is the oral argument audio in Davidson v. State.

And the briefs are here.

California Appellate Court Decides ICWA Expert Witness Case

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in In re M.B.

An excerpt:

Subsequently, the court conducted a hearing to select and implement a permanent plan of adoption. (Welf. & Inst.Code, § 366.26.) At the hearing, the juvenile court applied the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), which requires the expert opinion of an Indian expert that continued custody of the child by the parent or Indian custodian would result in serious emotional or physical damage to the child. Both appeal the judgment. Father argues the judgment must be reversed because the Indian expert did not conduct an adequate investigation. Mother joins this challenge. We affirm.

Michigan Daily on U-M’s Response to New NAGPRA Regs

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Excerpt from the Michigan Daily:

* * *

LSA sophomore Alys Alley, the co-chair of the Native American Student Association at the University, wrote in an e-mail interview that she and other members of the group believe that the new rule will mean that the culturally unidentifiable remains in the University’s possession will be returned to their respective tribes.

“Many of those remains that are held by the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology are the ancestors of the Native American students on campus, including myself, and I can say confidently that we are looking forward to the return of our ancestor’s remains to our communities,” she wrote.

She added that the status of the “culturally unidentifiable” remains in the University’s possession has caused a lot of tension between the University and Native American groups in Michigan.

“This whole situation with the 1,390 Native American human remains in the U of M Museum of Anthropology has caused a lot of pain for the Native American community; we have struggled to see our ancestors return home for many years,” she wrote.

Continue reading →