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American Graves Protection (american + grave_protection)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences80%

Kinds of American Graves Protection

  • native american grave protection
    		•

    Selected Abstracts

    Memory, Identity, and NAGPRA in the Northeastern United States

    AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 2 2010
    April M. Beisaw
    ABSTRACT, Determinations of cultural affiliation in compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) often rely on culture history and the direct-historical approach. Both methods ignore important developments in our understanding of identity. A recent NAGPRA claim illustrates an alternative. Using culture history and the direct-historical approach, it was difficult to ascribe the Engelbert Site of New York State to a federally recognized tribe because it contained material from multiple culture-historic taxa, often in the same feature. Taphonomic analyses of selected mixed deposits revealed a previously undocumented mortuary ritual that has since been found at other sites. Using memory as a framework for interpretation, this ritual appears reflective of a kinship-based shared identity between culture-historic taxa. The multivocality of this ritual provided an additional means for evaluating cultural affiliation by ascribing a consciousness of history to the subjects of this repatriation claim. [source]

    NAGPRA AT 20: Museum Collections and Reconnections

    MUSEUM ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
    Martha Graham
    ABSTRACT Since the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was enacted 20 years ago, the identification and repatriation of cultural items has become essential to museum,tribe relationships. Interactions prompted by repatriation policies and laws impel tribal representatives and museums alike to take a new look at museum collections. Three examples of interactions between Indian tribes and the American Museum of Natural History that were prompted by NAGPRA demonstrate how museum practices are changing. A series of responses by tribal representatives involved in these NAGPRA cases, with specific reference to their reconnections with the material culture in museum collections and museum,tribe relationships, show the ways in which tribal members frame the issues. [source]

    "A WILLINGNESS TO LISTEN TO EACH SIDE": The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review Committee, 1991,2010

    MUSEUM ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
    C. Timothy McKeown
    abstract The 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act authorized establishment of an advisory committee to carry out a long list of specific duties. Chartered on August 20, 1991, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review Committee has held 42 meetings over the subsequent 19 years. The review committee's responsibilities include monitoring the summary, inventory, and repatriation process; facilitating the resolution of disputes; compiling an inventory of culturally unidentifiable human remains and recommending specific actions for their disposition; consulting with the Secretary of the Interior in the development of regulations; and submitting an annual report to Congress. This paper examines the review committee's establishment and activities and assesses its effectiveness. [source]

    REPATRIATION FROM SCOTTISH MUSEUMS: Learning from NAGPRA

    MUSEUM ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
    Neil G. W. Curtis
    ABSTRACT Museums in Scotland have been involved in a number of high-profile repatriation cases over the past 20 years, including Glasgow Museums' return of the Ghost Dance Shirt in 1999, the repatriation of human remains from the University of Edinburgh since 1991, and the repatriation by the University of Aberdeen of a sacred bundle in 2003. This paper considers the approaches taken to the repatriation of human remains and sacred items by museums in Scotland. Working without specific legislation like the United States' 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), some museums in Scotland have developed procedures with which to consider repatriation requests. In particular, this paper discusses the advantages of "educative" criteria within such processes. Also considered are features of Scottish history and cultural identities that have affected the responses by museums and the public to requests for repatriation, while arguing that museums, like those in Scotland, operating without repatriation legislation should take the opportunity to engage voluntarily with the issue and so be involved in creating an appropriate contemporary role for themselves. [source]

    Federal Repatriation Legislation and the Role of Physical Anthropology in Repatriation

    AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue S41 2005
    Stephen D. Ousley
    Abstract Two laws governing the disposition of Native American human remains in museums and institutions have had a profound impact on anthropology, and especially physical anthropology. In contrast to the perception of constant conflict between Native Americans and physical anthropologists, the repatriation process based on these laws has been in large part harmonious between institutions and Native peoples in the US. Despite misconceptions, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAPGRA; 25 United States Code (U.S.C.) 3001-3013) was not intended to halt further research on Native American remains in museums. In fact, court decisions have affirmed that the documentation of human remains produces information no other methods can provide, and provides necessary evidence to be incorporated and weighed, along with other evidence, in evaluating "cultural affiliation," the legal term for the required connection from federally recognized Native American groups to their ancestors. The wide variety of osteological data collected at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), Smithsonian Institution, have proven indispensable when evaluating cultural affiliation, especially when other information sources are unhelpful or ambiguous, and provide an empirical basis for determining the ancestry of individuals whose remains will be discovered in the future. To date, the claim-driven process at the NMNH has resulted in the affiliation and repatriation of more Native American remains than any other institution in the country. Repatriation experiences at the NMNH demonstrate the changing relationships between museums and Native peoples, the continuing important contributions that physical anthropology makes to the repatriation process, and the importance of physical anthropology in understanding the recent and ancient history of North America. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 48:2,32, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]