Here are the materials in Robinson v. Salazar (E.D. Cal.):
DCT Order on Salazar Motion to Dismiss
County of Kern Motion to Dismiss
NAGPRA
AP Story on New NAGPRA Federal Regulations
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.
Suit re: Return of Jim Thorpe’s Remains to Proceed under NAGPRA Theory
Here are the materials in Thorpe v. Borough of Thorpe (M.D. Pa.):
NNALSA Writing Competition Winner: “Tipping NAGPRA’s Balancing Act”
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.
U.S. Government Accountability Office Deems Smithsonian Repatriation Lengthy and Resource Intensive
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).
Update in Kawaiisu Tribe NAGPRA Claim
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:
Disturbing News of the Day: Skulls Mailed to University
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.
Saginaw Chippewa Repatriation News
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.
Batchewana First Nation Remains Repatriated by Smithsonian
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.
D.C. Federal Court Dismisses Geronimo v. Obama
Here: DCT Dismissal.
Earlier materials are here.
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