Scholar pushes up, saying,’ The effect on the study of anthropology, real anthropology, forensics, and history may become devastating’
California State Colleges are in the process of removing African American” social items” from their choices this spring to comply with state and federal laws that prohibit their use for “teaching, analysis and display”, according to records reviewed by The College Fix.
All 21 institutions in the CSU system then employ a “repatriation representative” to give the items up to Nations, as is required by state law. CSU even is in the process of finalizing a system-wide relocation plan and requesting$ 4.5 million in the budget to fund the work in the coming year, according to the public school program documents.
The work has gotten out of hand, a doctor professor of anthropology at San Jose State University said.
” The relocation of Native American objects and human bones has entirely gone off the rails”, archaeologist Elizabeth Weiss told The College Fix , in a new message.
The on-going work are the result of a 2023 state inspection and governmental changes to the federal , African American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
Also, California Assembly Bill 389, which passed in 2023, requires public institutions to implement system-wide plans for the repatriation of African American products by July 1, according to a statement to the Board of Trustees for their Jan. 27 to 29 meet.
The law prohibits” the use of ancestral remains or cultural items that are in a university’s collection for the purposes of teaching, research or display”, the report states.
The trustees recently requested$ 4.5 million in next year’s budget” for NAGPRA/CalNAGPRA compliance”.
The current budget allocates$ 4.25 million for the project, but it is not enough, “many campuses have used additional campus funds to support repatriation-related costs”, the report states.
A CSU spokesperson told The Fix in an email Monday that no one was available to comment about the repatriation efforts. However, the spokesperson provided a link to a Jan. 29 video presentation to the Board of Trustees and documents about its compliance work.
Keeping artifacts for research causes ‘ harm,’ draft policy says
One document was a Jan. 24 letter to tribal leaders from Samantha Cypret, the first executive director of the CSU Office of Tribal Relations. Cypret is” Mountain Maidu from the Taylorsville Rancheria”, according to the letter.
The letter asks tribal leaders to review a” systemwide policy to ensure that each of our universities fully, respectfully, and promptly complies with” state and federal repatriation laws. She asked for feedback by March 31.
The draft policy, which is included in the letter, states that CSU campuses “acknowledge the harm and take responsibility” for collecting Native American items.
” These harms include the desecration of cemeteries, the prolonged separation of Human Remains and Cultural Items from their communities, the financial, logistical, and emotional costs of repatriation, the loss of control of sensitive information regarding Human Remains and Cultural Items, the trauma caused to descendants in CSU campus buildings where their Ancestors and Cultural Items are kept, and the inability to control the information that is published about one’s history and cultural heritage”, the policy states.
It also states that the “repatriation process itself” also is responsible for” trauma” because some museums and agencies do not” ]accept] Tribal Knowledge as expert opinion”.
” These practices are and have been part of a systemic privilege of academic and Western knowledge and practices over Tribal Knowledge that has functioned to avoid or delay repatriation and has failed to acknowledge Tribal sovereignty”, the policy states.
Anthropologist fears for future of academic research
However, Weiss, an anthropologist in California, told The Fix in a recent email that she staunchly disagrees with these repatriation laws.
Weiss said the federal and state laws were originally supposed to encourage the return of “funerary objects, sacred objects, items of cultural patrimony, and human remains” that were connected to “federally recognized (or, in the case of CalNAGPRA, state recognized ) tribes”.
However, Weiss said the government’s increased demand for the complete removal of all Native American artifacts from university campuses threatens the future of forensic science and anthropology.
” But, now the’ everything back ‘ movement has infected academia, especially in California. Consequently, artifacts of all sorts – even non-Native materials, such as Ming dynasty vases– are being’ repatriated’ to tribes”! she said.
She explained how “replicas that were specifically made for display in museums” have been “misclassified as sacred” and “fossilized feces” have been mislabeled and repatriated as “human remains”, even though they could be used to study “past diets and disease patterns”.
” I think that California universities, by repatriating these and many other materials, such as x-rays, fine arts, and nonhuman animal bones, are actually breaking the laws, not following them”, Weiss said.
” Also, some California universities have put a moratorium on the use of data, photos, slides, and movies of anything that may be Native American. This will stifle our ability to teach students about America’s past. This affects not only anthropology and archaeology students, but also the students who take such courses to fulfill General Education requirements”, she told The Fix.
Weiss said she fears for the future of academic research if more artifacts are taken out of universities.
” The effect on the study of archaeology, physical anthropology, forensics, and history will be devastating”, Weiss said. ” Casts will be used instead of real bones, and this will lead to poorly trained forensic anthropologists and doctors”.
Weiss predicted that students may turn to overseas universities if they no longer have access to these artifacts in the U. S. As an example, she said she reached out to several California public universities regarding their collections of” Native American and non-Native American” skeletons, and the universities told her there were” no human remains skeletal collections available for research”.
One of her primary concerns is that taxpayer dollars should no longer be funding the laws. Weiss said repatriation is no longer necessary, and she expressed hope that the Trump administration will eliminate it.
” Nearly everything that was originally intended for repatriation was repatriated years ago. However, not wanting to let the gravy train of federal and state taxpayers ‘ money end, those involved in the repatriation movement have just continuously expanded what should be included in the repatriation process”, Weiss said.
American Indian tribes get involved
Meanwhile, members of the National Congress of American Indians, an advocacy organization for American Indians and Alaska Natives, are encouraged by the continued NAGPRA efforts.
” As time goes on, NCAI will continue to advocate for the complete implementation of NAGPRA and repatriation of ancestral remains and sacred and cultural objects so that wrongdoings inflicted upon American Indian and Alaska Native communities are recognized and healing can begin”, the organization stated in a recent podcast.
A NCAI spokesperson directed The Fix to the” Healing Through Restoration: The Native American Graves Repatriation Act” podcast, saying no one was available to comment on the California university system’s efforts.
The NCAI supports NAGPRA and believes a 2023 regulatory amendment to the federal law will continue to benefit tribes. According to the podcast, the federal changes “give Tribal nations more authority in the repatriation process”.
Every CSU campus is required to have “four voting Tribal representatives” join each” systemwide and campus-based committee”, per state law.
However, the January report to the trustees suggests the universities are having a hard time getting volunteers. According to the report, the Office of Tribal Relations contacted tribes in December, asking members to join because “more than 100 committee members are still needed”.
MORE: Southern Illinois U. creates new position to give back museum’s Native American artifacts
IMAGE: EWY Media/Shutterstock
Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter
