In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Now in its fourth decade, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) remains one of the most important legislative acts shaping the discipline of archaeology today. To adequately discuss the range of topics and provide examples and case studies incorporating shifting discourses of repatriation, policies, and collections management concerning Ancestors and objects subject to NAGPRA, the Committee on Museums, Collections, and Curation and the Curation Interest Group have arranged a five-part series. NAGPRA impacts every sector of archaeological practice in the United States. Federal agencies and “museums,” including state and local government agencies, universities, private institutions, and even cultural resource management firms, may be required to comply with the law by reporting, inviting consultation, and repatriating eligible collections. Federally recognized Indian Tribes must also follow specific procedures to regain their Ancestral remains and belongings. Many Tribes and institutions have developed NAGPRA policies to guide compliance, while a growing number of professional communities debate best practices for exceeding federal requirements. Yet numerous Tribes and institutions remain new to NAGPRA, and archaeological curricula frequently lack explicit training. This symposium circulates the latest policies, protocols, and practices that facilitate compliance alongside updates from the professional communities moving the field forward.

Other Keywords
Collections • Museums • and Repatriation • NAGPRA • Conservation and Curation • Repatriation • Cultural Resources and Heritage Management • Communities of Practice • Information Management • Survey

Geographic Keywords
United States of America (Country) • North America (Continent) • Kentucky (State / Territory) • USA (Country) • Delaware (State / Territory) • Georgia (State / Territory) • Mississippi (State / Territory) • Tennessee (State / Territory) • North Carolina (State / Territory) • West Virginia (State / Territory)

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-16 of 16)

  • Documents (16)
Documents
  • Building Community in the Northeast (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Julie Woods. Jesse Bergevin. Marla Taylor.

    This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Northeast NAGPRA Community of Practice was founded in 2023 in an effort to build community and strategize on issues and opportunities related to NAGPRA implementation that are unique to the region. Our goal is to improve trust, develop...

  • Building Relationships and Sharing Information: A Gathering of the Midwest NAGPRA Community (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Eve Hargrave. Aimee Carbaugh. Krystiana Lee Krupa.

    This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The first NAGPRA Community of Practice, established in 2019 through the University of Denver, illustrated the vital role communication, listening, and learning plays among institutions and tribal partners as we move forward in fulfilling our NAGPRA...

  • Challenges in Assisting Removal Tribes in the Reburial Stage of the NAGPRA Process (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Rebecca Barzilai. Andrea Bridges.

    This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. For over 100 years, large museums, universities, and institutions in the United States have amassed extensive collections of Native American remains and sacred objects from archaeological sites. The outcries of Native American communities who sought to...

  • Collaboratively Creating a Digital Collection Database (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Thomas Jennings. Cenetria Crockett. Ashley Smallwood.

    This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Digital curation has become a critical component of a method of archaeological collection management, and UofL’s CACHe recently received an NEH Foundation grant to develop a collection database. Digital curation helps collection managers organize and...

  • Culturally Appropriate Collections Stewardship: Creating an ICC Guide (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Marla Taylor. Laura Bryant. Laura Elliff Cruz.

    This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. For centuries, museums and academic institutions have acquired and amassed Indigenous cultural items for their own use and benefit with minimal consideration from descendant communities. The values expressed in stewarding those collections resonate...

  • Engaging with NAGPRA at the Veterans Curation Program (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Megan Schwalenberg.

    This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Veterans Curation Program (VCP) is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) funded program with a dual mission to rehabilitate USACE administered artifact and document collections and provide temporary employment and vocational training to veterans....

  • Establishing Institutional Partnerships that Reunite Communities through Joint Repatriation (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Catherine Smith. Neill Wallis. Geoffrey Thomas. Kathryn Miyar. Sam Wilford.

    This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida, Florida State University, and the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research have a shared institutional history. This longstanding interconnection has resulted in intertwined holdings,...

  • From Controversy to Collaboration: NAGPRA Practice and Repatriation at Dickson Mounds Museum (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Brooke Morgan. Logan Pappenfort. Margaret Alway.

    This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Dickson Mounds Museum (DMM) in central Illinois has been ground zero for the intersection of archaeological practice, Native American rights, and the responsibilities of a state museum. For over sixty years, DMM presented viewing of an open excavation...

  • A Granular Analysis of Public Comments to Proposed NAGPRA Revisions (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Erin Guthrie.

    This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In response to stagnated repatriation efforts in the 32 years since the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA, 43 CFR 10) became law, a new proposed rule to revise implementation regulations was entered into the federal register...

  • NAGPRA Data Management Plan (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Noah Safari.

    This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. It has been over three decades since the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was signed into law on November 16, 1990. NAGPRA was passed in a different information environment than the one at present; electronic documents are...

  • NAGPRA Practice as Death Work: Determining a Need for Grief-centric Training for NAGPRA Practitioners (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Basil Stewart.

    This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. NAGPRA practice entails working with death. This occurs when practitioners are engaging with the Dead, the circumstances of their occurrence in collections, and the wider scope of systemic violence that prompted the need for NAGPRA. NAGPRA practice is a...

  • NAGPRA Training for the Next Generation of Archaeologists: The Keowee-Toxaway Re-curation Project (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Joseph Lindler. Savannah Bornheim. Jordan Jeffreys. Greta Napotnik. Nina Schreiner.

    This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Thirty years beyond enactment of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), there is still much to be done. The growing curation crisis and renewed efforts by Tribal Nations and archaeologists at the South Carolina Institute of...

  • Respecting the Past, Empowering the Present: NAGPRA, College Students, and Renewed Commitment to Indigenous Heritage (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sarah Bishop. Hunter Bobbitt. Megan LeBlanc.

    This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The archaeology lab at Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM) has seen several changes over the last year regarding updates to their policies, protocols, and practices associated with their Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)...

  • STARR: Southeastern Tribal Alliance for Repatriation and Reburial (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Deanna Byrd.

    This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Presented by Alliance Member: Deanna Byrd (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) and other alliance members if schedules permit. The Southeastern Tribal Alliance for Repatriation and Reburial is comprised of Tribal Nations in the southeastern United States who...

  • Tracing Collection Histories for Repatriation: The Fisher Mound Group (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Olof Olafardottir-Hamilton. Rebecca Barzilai.

    This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Before repatriation, NAGPRA practitioners need to track down all components of a collection to prevent their tribal partners from having to repatriate the same collections multiple times. This involves tracing often labyrinthine collection histories...

  • Updates from the Southeastern NAGPRA Community of Practice (SNACP): Successes and Challenges (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Ellen Lofaro. Megan Buchanan. RaeLynn Butler. Amanda Roberts Thompson. Nina Schreiner.

    This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part IV): NAGPRA in Policy, Protocol, and Practice" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over 33 years have passed since the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA) was ratified. As practitioners, we recognize the progress that has been made and acknowledge the vast amount of repatriation work that still...