New Federal Rules for Native Remains and Artifacts Give Power to Tribes

https://truthout.org/articles/new-federal-rules-for-native-remains-and-artifacts-give-power-to-tribes/

New Federal Rules for Native Remains and Artifacts Give Power to Tribes

The rules apply to public universities and museums, as well as private institutions that have received federal funds.

By Mary Annette Pember , ICT
Published March 19, 2024

Changes to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act were announced in the dry language of the Federal Register in December and quietly went into effect earlier this year.

But contrary to the ordinary unveiling, the NAGPRA final rule, as it is called, represents a tectonic shift in how museums, universities and other public institutions interact with Native peoples in repatriation of ancestral remains as well as sacred and cultural objects.

The new rules — which give deference to Indigenous knowledge — have sent museums across the country scrambling to hide Indigenous exhibits from public view as officials work to interpret the changes in the law.

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Some institutions offer financial support to tribes for travel and associated repatriation costs, but several tribal leaders suggested that the institutions should shoulder more of the costs. “Not only the Field Museum, but others, have profited quite a bit from possession of our ancestors,” Wahwassuck said. Chief Ben Barnes of the Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma wondered about the untold profits that collections of Indigenous remains and objects have provided to universities. “How many undergraduate and graduate degrees have been bestowed, how many research grants have been gained, based on our patrimony?” he asked.

…more… long read…