Challenges to Managing Tribal Knowledge and Physical Places within the Homelands of the Confederated Klamath Tribes

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Heritage Sites at the Intersection of Landscape, Memory, and Place: Archaeology, Heritage Commemoration, and Practice" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

People recognize places on the landscape that have historical and spiritual importance to their communities, and it is often the case that different cultural communities sharing the same space have very different cultural maps. Among Tribal communities, identifying specific places of significance is sometimes shared only reluctantly with the non-Native public. This may include concern with looting of archaeological sites but also with maintaining the integrity of places with historical or spiritual importance where physical traces of human presence may be subtle or imperceptible. This reluctance can provide challenges to land managers who often share responsibility with Tribes to manage and protect important places, but it is driven by greater concerns with attitudes among some of the general public that dismiss the values and traditions of other cultural groups, and the feeling of entitlement that drive disrespectful behaviors on both private and public lands. We explore the challenges regarding the management of both Tribal knowledge and physical places with examples from the homelands of the Confederated Klamath Tribes of south-central Oregon.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Heritage Sites at the Intersection of Landscape, Memory, and Place: Archaeology, Heritage Commemoration, and Practice   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35694.0