A Federal Framework to Integrate Native American Traditions in the Care of Ancestors and Cultural Property Held in Museum Collections

Summary

This is an abstract from the "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part III)" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Federal agencies and repositories holding federal collections have been bound to curation standards often developed without consideration for nontangible values and needs and a legacy of collecting practices intended to preserve the past yet uninformed by the interests and concerns of descendant communities. In 1990, NAGPRA established that tribal communities had rights above those of the collection holder. In 2023, new NAGPRA regulations propose that standards of care defer to Native American community norms. Sharing and ceding authority is an important and meaningful shift in recognizing community expertise within archaeology and museum practice. This paper explores how federal laws and policies can promote—and hinder—incorporation of tribal preferences and methodologies in collections care, within the context of NAGPRA, and beyond. Although tribal viewpoints and preferences are elicited through consultation, recent federal policies on co-stewardship and Indigenous knowledge increasingly incorporate and rely on tribal expertise and practices. Yet honoring cultural customs can conflict with other federal requirements. NAGPRA has helped transform relationships and practices. Reframing duty of care is another pivotal opportunity to collaborate and reform collections management to incorporate culturally appropriate and respectful care for ancestors, cultural items, and other cultural material under our stewardship.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part III)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39029.0