NAGPRA

Eric Hemenway Column on Cultural Preservation

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

From the Petoskey News-Review:

My name is Eric Hemenway and I am an Anishnaabe/Odawa from Cross Village. I work in the Archive/Records and Cultural Preservation Department for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians here in Emmet County. I am very fortunate to have such a diverse job that involves cultural preservation for my tribe — but cultural preservation is a very broad term that covers many different areas. One aspect of the Odawa culture that I focus on in my work is the caretaking for our dead. Respecting and honoring our ancestors who have passed on is a fundamental element of our identity as Odawa and has been with our tribe for countless generations. I have the opportunity to carry on this tradition in a unique way by working in my department.

The federal law NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) enables tribes to reclaim human remains and sacred items associated to their respective tribal communities. These remains and items are housed in museums and universities throughout the country. What I do is locate where the remains are, submit claims and if all goes well, retrieve the remains and rebury them. We also submit claims for sacred items affiliated to our tribe. Repatriating remains is a difficult task, but a necessary one, because it ties in with our belief the dead need to be taken care of. This is a new dilemma tribes across the country have to deal with, having their ancestors taken from their final resting places and placed in boxes on shelves, to be examined and documented in manners the tribes deem as inappropriate and disrespectful. But we have the opportunity to get these old ones back and we at LTBB Odawa have made it a priority to do so. It’s sad yet rewarding work. Sad to know the history of how museums acquired these remains and the fact our dead were not given the proper respect as groups, yet rewarding to finally lay them to rest, again, and finally see our beliefs being recognized.

Along with work in NAGPRA, I also take care of several Odawa cemeteries within our reservation boundary. Many of these cemeteries are in very rustic, rural areas. The grass needs to be mowed, dead trees taken out, crossed fixed and replaced. When I first started my job in 2006, I never would have thought I would be working so much with the dead, but that’s my job now. Other people work in the Odawa language, with the youth, elders, education, housing, education, etc. I just happen to work with the ones who have passed on. Hopefully someday all our ancestors will be returned and all the tribes across the country can have that piece of their tribe back. And when that days comes, I am sure my job will change into something else, but in the meantime, there are thousands of Anishnaabe that need to come back home.

Here is Eric’s outstanding blog!

NAGPRA News: Regs on Culturally Unidentifiable Remains to be Published on March 15

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the National NAGPRA site:

CUI RULE TO PUBLISH MARCH 15

The reserved section of the NAGPRA regulations, 10.11, the disposition of culturally unidentifiable Native American human remains, is set to publish on Monday, March 15, as a final rule. The rule will be effective on May 14, 2010. During the 60 days, the public may submit additional comments on the rule to Regulations.gov. The comments will thereafter be considered as to whether amendment to the rule is appropriate.

The National NAGPRA Program will offer a webinar prior to the comment deadline, which will include a training on the rule. The webinar date will be announced shortly anticipating a 200 capacity access line.

NAGPRA Claimant Loses Trial but Gains Hawaii Compliance

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion — Brown v State of Hawaii (D. Haw.)

An excerpt:

Plaintiff should be commended for bringing his NAGPRA claim. As the State Defendants’ counsel acknowledged in his opening statement, the claim effectively brought certain issues of noncompliance to light. See 10/21/09 Tr. 96:17-22 (St.’ Defs.’ Counsel) (“In a very perverse way, my client has to thank Mr. Brown for bringing this case. Because although SHPD had been under the belief and understanding that NAGPRA did not apply to it, unless there was a finding on federal or tribal lands, there apparently is a dispute as to whether or not that is an accurate interpretation of the law.”). It appears that, as a direct result of this litigation, SHPD has initiated consultation with the National NAGPRA Program in an effort to come into compliance with the  [*26] statute. Nevertheless, the Court may only issue permanent injunctive relief upon a proper showing. See Reno Air Racing Ass’n, 452 F.3d at 1137 n.10. Based on the evidence presented at trial, the Court finds that Plaintiff has not established that injunctive relief is appropriately issued in his favor at this time because he has failed to show that he has suffered irreparable harm or that he will likely suffer such harm immediately in the absence of injunctive relief. See id.

Boozhoo to Tribal Repatriation Specialist Blog

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Kudos to Eric Hemenway and Little Traverse.

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House Resources Committee Hearing on NAGPRA

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The video is here.

At about the 15 minute mark, Rep. Kildee discusses the Flint dig and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe’s involvement.

Miigwetch to A.K.

Muskegon Museum Repatriates Remains

Kate Fort

Eric Hemenway continues his good work up at LTBB:

From the Muskegon Chronicle

Ancient Indian remains reburied with dignity

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

By Marla Miller
mmiller@muskegonchronicle.com

MUSKEGON — The aroma of burning sage, cedar, sweet grass and tobacco swirled into the air at the Old Indian Cemetery Tuesday as about 50 people gathered for the repatriation and reburial of Native American bones.

Native Americans believe burning the cleansing herbs brings good spirits to them, and when smoking tobacco and speaking, the words go directly to God, according to Joseph Genia, a Muskegon resident and member of the Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians, who led the ceremony.

“Grandfather, have pity on us for digging up our relatives and not doing anything about it,” he said as part of the closing prayer. “Have pity on us and bless us here in this life.”

The centuries-old remains of nine West Michigan American Indians were returned to a proper resting place after a long process led by John McGarry, executive director of Lakeshore Museum Center, and Eric Hemenway, of Harbor Springs.

Hemenway is a research repatriation assistant and member of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians. He works with state and federally recognized tribes to pursue the return of Native American remains and sacred objects.

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Public Radio Segment on NAGPRA and Michigan Tribes

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

INTERLOCHEN PUBLIC RADIO (2009-04-22) For the more than a decade now Indian tribes in Michigan and elsewhere have been reclaiming objects lost over the centuries. In many cases they are also able to return to the earth the remains of long-dead ancestors. We’ll meet the researcher who does this work for one of the tribes in northern lower Michigan.

Listen here.

Mott CC Returns Remains to Saginaw Chippewas

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Flint Journal:

For four decades, they sat in wooden, glass-top cases on a shelf waiting to be found.

Forty-four years later, the ancestral remains of a Native American child and adult unknowingly stored at Mott Community College have finally been laid to rest.

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Feds Do Not Enforce NAGPRA — NATHPO Report

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (H/T Falmouth):

“Federal Agency Implementation  Of NAGPRA”
report cover

This study was undertaken to prepare a substantive foundation for assessing the implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and identifying where improvements might be made.

The Background section of this report includes historic information that describes one systemic effort that led to Native American ancestors and objects becoming separated from their local communities.  The Research Findings section includes original research, analysis of existing public information, and two national surveys conducted to determine how the Act is being implemented and how Federal agencies and Native Americans are working together to achieve the goals of the Act. Findings and Recommendations included in this report reflect the current state of Federal agency compliance with the Act, as of May 2008.

Foreword and Part I – Executive Summary pdf
Part II – Background pdf
Part III – Research Findings pdf
Part IV – Recommendations pdf
Appendix A – Summaries of Law and Regulations pdf
Appendix B – Survey Respondents pdf
Appendix C – Federal NAGPRA Appropriations and Grant History pdf
Appendix D – Notice of Inventory Completion Chart pdf
Appendix E – Letter From National NAGPRA Program to Grand Canyon NP pdf
Appendix F – “Federal Agency Statistics,” 2006 pdf
Appendix G – Two High-Profile Federal-Tribal Case Studies pdf
Author’s Page and Acknowledgments pdf
Front and Back Covers pdf
Zipped copy of entire report (11.9MB) pdf

Cranbrook Institute to Return Remains to LTBB

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From AP:

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (AP) — It’s a matter of “doing the right thing,” according to the director of the Cranbrook Institute of Science, which plans to turn over the remains of about 60 Native Americans to the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians.

The bones have spent decades in the back rooms of the suburban Detroit museum, part of its vast collection of artifacts from cultures around the world. They belong to people who hunted and fished in what is now Oakland County hundreds of years before the first Europeans arrived.

This fall, Cranbrook expects to surrender the remains after publication of a notice in the Federal Register to alert other tribes that might want to claim the bones.

“This is a very emotionally and in some respects a politically charged issue,” institute director Mike Stafford told the Detroit Free Press. “We feel we’re doing the right thing. And I hope it inspires other institutions to do the same.”

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