Engaged Research, Management and Planning at Tolay Lake Regional Park

Summary

Archaeology has a long history of extracting knowledge and physical resources from Indigenous communities without redistributing resources or benefits to these communities. The ideas of giving back or "paying in our own currency" are well-meant, albeit simple, attempts to atone for our discipline’s history. However, the historical traumas in Indigenous communities from political, economic and scholarly colonialism are complex, and cannot be remedied with simple fixes. Research that seeks to engage communities should therefore begin with the recognition that decolonizing research is a long and difficult process, and justice in the face of historical trauma is never finished. Research begun in this context is better suited to address the ongoing needs of Indigenous communities. I will discuss the examples of my dissertation work, inevitable side projects, and other involvements with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria at Tolay Lake Regional Park. The Tolay Valley is a sacred landscape that Sonoma County Regional Parks Department is developing for public recreational use. My research was designed in collaboration with the tribal community. As such, this research and researcher have the ability and responsibility to advocate for the community’s views on policy, management and interpretation of cultural resources at this park.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Archaeologies by Community Mandate: Practicing Collaborative and Community-Engaged Research

Keywords

Spatial Coverage