Decolonization and Co-stewardship: Protecting Cultural Landscapes across Serrano Ancestral Territory

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Refining Archaeological Data Collection and Management to Achieve Greater Scientific, Traditional, and Educational Values" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Since time immemorial, the Serrano people have maintained a close relationship with their ancestral lands, and have been tasked by the Creator to steward these lands in meaningful ways. As such, the Cultural Resources Management Department for the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians (SMBMI) has created a cultural landscape preservation program that focuses on co-stewardship with land owners, government agencies, and archaeologists via a decolonized consultation process. Specifically, our department does the following: (1) maintain a document library and GIS database complete with various types of cultural data (e.g., archaeological information, oral histories, ethnographic studies, etc.); (2) relay holistic cultural sensitivity assessments of a project area directly to the government agency early in the planning stages; (3) provide guidance to archaeologists regarding thoughtful, culturally appropriate archaeological identification efforts and noncollection site testing/evaluation methods; and 4) educate partners regarding the outdated modality and cultural inappropriateness of material data collection/long-term curation and offer clever solutions for avoidance and/or curation in place. By utilizing a decolonized process and adopting a co-stewardship ethos, SMBMI has found success in their efforts to preserve important Serrano landscapes in way that is reflective of the tribe’s mission, vision, and values.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Refining Archaeological Data Collection and Management to Achieve Greater Scientific, Traditional, and Educational Values

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32831