This does n’t’ ending with repatriating materials — censorship of pictures and data is already underway,’ professor says
Another school writer expressed concern about the recent creation of a new team position at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale to “repatriate” Native American artifacts from its variety.
These new posts at Southern Illinois and another higher education institutions, according to Elizabeth Weiss, professor professor of anthropology at San Jose State University.
Weiss told The College Fix in a new email that” they will not end with repatriating supplies.”” Censorship of pictures and information is already underway,” Weiss said.
In a meeting held in September, the board of Trustees at Southern Illinois University approved a$ 75, 000 pay for the new position of system director for the African American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
Carol Samarah, who was hired to fill the role, will” work across SIU schools to ensure conformity” with the national legislation, according to the job information. Amarah sent an email last year asking for more information about her job that she did not respond to.
The place, which is permanent, was created in accordance with subsequent regulatory changes, according to anthropology professor Mark Wagner. Funding for the place came from the state, never education money, he said.
The law “requires institutions, including museums and universities, to protect and carefully returning Native American human remains and historical items, including burial objects, sacred objects and objects of social patrimony”, Wagner said in an email next week.
” Failure to be compliant with NAGPRA can result in severe fines and penalties”, he said.
Wagner, who was in charge of the hiring process, stated that they were looking for someone with” a thorough understanding of NAGPRA regulations as well as the ability to work with and win the trust of tribal representatives.”
Earlier this year, several California universities created similar positions to facilitate the “repatriation” of Native American objects in their museums, The Fix previously reported.
MORE: Native American artifacts are being returned to California universities by hiring staff.
Weiss, a historian and author, has criticized these additions. She predicted that as a result, “more scientific and teaching collections will be lost.”
” University positions, such as repatriation coordinators, NAGPRA ( Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act ) coordinators, or tribal liaisons, are all still growing and are likely here for the long run”, she told The Fix.
These hires will make the decisions and logistics to essentially throw away these collections by giving them to tribes, she said.
Eventually,” when the science collapses, NAGPRA coordinators and others hired in repatriation roles will claim that they were just following orders”, Weiss said. They were, however, paving the way, allowing for more and more collection destruction, including those of plant and animal collections containing plant and animal remains.
She added that these new positions “are a departure from the original intent of NAGPRA,” which was to give Native American descendants human remains and sacred objects.
Now, museums also are returning “fine arts, replicas, and research collections from coprolites ( fossilized feces ) to nonhuman animal remains”, she said.
However, Wagner, who serves as director of SIU Carbondale’s Center for Archaeological Investigations, said his institution “fully supports” the repatriation efforts.
According to Wagner,” We consult with descendant communities to repatriate ancestral human remains and sacred objects belonging to those communities that are currently curated by the university in accordance with federal law.”
A difficult task involves building relationships and trust between university officials and tribal governments representing Native American peoples, according to Wagner, who consults with sovereign Native American tribes regarding the repatriation of human remains and cultural objects.
But to Weiss, the new position at SIU Carbondale exemplifies a wider problem.
” Already, repatriation of non-Native American materials is occurring, such as the repatriation of a 16th century Spanish breastplate and Ming dynasty vases to the Graton Rancheria tribe from UC Berkeley’s Phoebe Hearst Museum”, she told The Fix. ” Materials that can be used in forensic training run the risk of being repatriated.”
She gave the example of” an osteology instructor in California who ] was denied access to animal bones from a hospital dump from the 19th century because the tribes had n’t been consulted yet.” These kinds of things are crucial for learning how to separate human remains from nonhuman remains.
The past two years have been “terrible … for the preservation of archaeological collections” in higher education museums, Weiss told The Fix.
Whole sciences will be buried under the guise of aiding Native American tribes, she said, “unless there is a drastic change, such as the removal of all NAGPRA regulatory changes that were passed by bureaucrats.”
Weiss, author of the book” On the Warpath: My Battles with Indians, Pretendians, and Woke Warriors”, has been speaking out against the repatriation law for years.
Last year, she and San Jose State settled a lawsuit after Weiss alleged university leaders publicly “disparag]ed ]” her and” severely restrict]ed ] her ability to conduct research”, The Fix reported at the time.
MORE: Researchers may need tribal elders ‘ approval before going to UMinn.
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