The story about response to 2010 federal regulations can be found various places, including here.
Although the story focuses primarily on the University of California, Berkeley and the Kumeyaay Nation, it also mentions a variety of other universities, including the University of Michigan. Last month, UM’s NAGPRA Advisory Committee issued policies and procedures along with a cover letter. A previous post about the regulations can be found here.
Here are the materials in Thorpe v. Borough of Thorpe (M.D. Pa.):
Matthew H. Birkhold’s “Tipping NAGPRA’s Balancing Act: The Inequitable Disposition of ‘Culturally Unindentified’ Human Remains under NAGPRA’s New Provision” has been published in the William Mitchell Law Review — here.
The report can be found here.
The story from PR Newswire:
WASHINGTON, June 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Smithsonian Institution’s process to repatriate thousands of Native American human remains and funerary objects in its collections is lengthy and resource intensive and it may take several more decades to return items to tribes under its current system, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
This GAO report is the second of a two-part, three-year effort to examine how publicly funded institutions are complying with the two federal laws that direct repatriation to Native Americans. Last year the GAO examined the repatriation work of eight key Federal agencies and the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).
Here is the recent order in Kawaissu Tribe v. Salazar (E.D. Cal.), dismissing most claims but allowing the nonrecognized tribe to amend its NAGPRA complaint:
Via one of our favorite academic bloggers, Tenured Radical. She has a good point about the reporting, such as
Jim Crow, John Doe — whatever. A little bit of research reveals that the Crow (Apsaalooke) Nation headquarters are also in Montana, slightly south of Billings: Augusta is a four hour drive from there.
PROVO — What first looked like a Halloween prank has turned into a mystery at BYU. A box showed up in the mail Monday, and inside were two human skulls.
The skulls showed up from the U.S. Postal Service in a box, sent Priority Mail. There was no label and no explanation why two skulls were being mailed to the university.
“Why here? We don’t know. They put ‘historical department’ [on the box]. It was delivered to the history department, but we don’t know why,” said BYU police Sgt. Mike Mock.
From the Morning Sun:
Dennis Banks, renowned co-founder of the American Indian Movement who helped create the language for the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act which became law in 1990, took part in a reburial ceremony Thursday on the Isabella Reservation.
The reburial ceremony was for 10 Native American ancestoral remains who were dug up and kept in a vault in a museum at Harvard University and were proven to be affiliated with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.
From the Sault Star:
CLICK HERE to watch a video
The remains of six Batchewana First Nation ancestors returned home Thursday after a 135-year absence.
Chief Dean Sayers said the return of the remains from the United States marked a “moving forward,” for Batchewana.
“We want our kids to have good memories,” said Sayers. “This is one of those good memories that they’re going to be able to tell their children and their grandchildren and their grandchildren.”
A crowd lined the St. Mary’s River as a box containing the remains of three men and three women was paddled from Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., to Bellevue Park in a 20-foot birch bark canoe. The remains were then loaded in a vehicle for transport to a traditional burial ground at Batchewana’s Goulais Mission reserve.
Thursday was the first time the Smithsonian Institution has been involved in transferring human remains back to Canada.
The unidentified Anishnabek as well as four associated funerary objects, had been unearthed from unknown cemetery sites at or near Sault Ste. Marie in 1875 by the U.S. Army surgeon at nearby Fort Brady for the purpose of scientific research.
Here: DCT Dismissal.
Earlier materials are here.
From the U-M Record Update:
A new federal rule that takes effect today regulating the transfer of Native American human remains provides an important opportunity for U-M to work with Native American communities.
| More information Click here to go to the Web site of the Advisory Committee on Culturally Unidentifiable Human Remains under NAGPRA. |
That’s the view of Stephen Forrest, vice president for research. His office will oversee the transfer of human remains controlled by the university but for which no culturally affiliated Indian tribe has been identified.
“Of course we will respectfully comply with the law,” Forrest says. “But more importantly the rule gives us a framework for establishing trust and strengthening working relationships with Indian tribes in Michigan and elsewhere.”
The new rule was adopted as an extension of rules implementing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, which gave standing to lineal descendents and culturally affiliated tribes to seek repatriation of burial remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and cultural patrimony. It did not address the disposition of culturally unidentifiable human remains.
In the collection of the Museum of Anthropology, U-M has the remains of about 1,600 Native American individuals unidentifiable with an existing tribe.
Forrest says both his office and the Museum of Anthropology are seeking additional staff to facilitate the outreach to tribes, consultations and transfers.
While some are worried that the transfers will limit future research opportunities, Forrest sees it differently.
“Developing trusting relationships may facilitate future communications about ways of asking and answering questions of broad interest to both the university and native communities.”
Last fall Forrest appointed the 12-member Advisory Committee on Culturally Unidentifiable Human Remains under NAGPRA to provide advice and guidance on the procedures used to notify and consult with groups from whose tribal or aboriginal lands the remains were removed.
NAGPRA requires federal agencies and organizations that receive federal funds to submit to the U.S. Department of the Interior inventories of Native American human remains in their possession, and to include their best judgment as to whether the remains are culturally affiliated with a present day Indian tribe or known earlier group, or are culturally unidentifiable because no shared group identity can be reasonably traced.
Culturally affiliated remains are repatriated upon request after a public comment period.
The new rule specifies that after appropriate consultation, culturally unidentifiable remains are to be transferred to a Native American tribe from whose tribal or aboriginal lands the remains were excavated or removed.
Now that the new rule has clarified the process, Forrest says his office will be the university point of contact for requests and will take the necessary steps to facilitate the respectful transfer of Native American human remains in the U-M collection to tribes.
Turtle Talk 
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