Section A · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, May 4, 2000
Museum works to repatriate Native-American remains
Continued from page 1A
"With Indians, everything means something," Kitchkumme said. "Nothing has no value."
The Act
For years, Native Americans have argued that bones and artifacts should be returned to their rightful place. In 1900, the United States government sided with them, passing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
Rey Kikichumme, a tribunal council member for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation is the Potawatomi representative to the University of Kansas in the repatriation process. The KU anthropology museum at Spooner Hall is in the process of returning its collection of Native-American bones and artifacts. Contributed photo
The act requires museums and federal agencies that have Native American remains and cultural items in their collections to meet with Native American tribes, Alaska Native villages and corporations and Native Hawaiian organizations to discuss the return of items.
The act also directs Congress to make grants, such as the one given to the University, to other museums and tribes.
The act falls under the broad heading of repatriation. Repatriation means the process of making amends or doing something to make amends.
Mary Adair, associate curator for the museum of anthropology, said returning the bones and artifacts at the University is what should be done for a couple of reasons.
“It’s the right thing to do,” she said. “It’s also the law. It’s ethically and morally the right thing to do.”
Dan Wildcat, professor in American Indian studies at Haskell Indian Nations University, and a member of the Euchee tribe of Oklahoma, said KU's repatriation process was an important step to take because it lent itself to the healing of old wounds.
"In our own native tradition, this is first an obligation," he said. "We have to make sure that this is done.
"Once that happens, we can really talk about trying to bridge some of the wounds and the hard feelings that have occurred and heal some of those wounds." Wildcat said.
When Native Americans received backroom access to museums they were stunned by how many bones were in boxes collecting dust.
"When we saw this, it really opened a lot of our eyes," Morris said. "It was really a breakthrough for all of us. NAGPRA (the 1909 act) really got things going for the tribes as a whole."
Adair said she would like to see the University and the tribes come to an agreement about what belongs to whom.
Sorting the Collection
This is not the first time the University has repatriated items. In 1996, the University returned three human remains to the Hai Malala I Na Kupuna 'O Hawai'i Nei, an organization that protects and cares for ancestral Native Hawaiian remains. The University also returned eight human remains and 23 artifacts to the Mandan,
"It's almost as if we exist as artifacts, and I think that one of the things that increasingly is being raised by indigenous people is that we're still here."
Dan Wildcat
Haskell Indian Nations University professor of American Indian Studies
Hidatsa and Arikara tribes of New Town, North Dakota, in 1997. In those repatriations, the Hawaiians and the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota could prove that the remains held by the University definitely were related to them. The current KU efforts involve bones and artifacts whose lineage is less certain.
The second meeting between the University and the tribes is planned for May 15-16. At the meeting, the University and the tribes will identify what belongs to whom.
Sharon Fixico, associate professor of political science, government and indigenous nations studies, is acting as a mediator.
At the first meeting, Fixico said the tribes had the chance to view KU's collection. In the months since, the tribes have been discussing among themselves what should be done with the remains.
Identifying the remains is more arbitrary than the artifacts. The artifacts can be identified by the differences in design. Decisions about the remains hinge on the information each tribe has about where the bones were found.
"They may have a pretty good understanding of what remains are theirs." Fixico said.
Kitchumme said he hoped that the meeting in May would get his tribe active in the repatriation process.
The involvement of the tribal elders is important to Kitchumme. Even though he is the Potawatomi representative for the meeting, he needs to consult with the elders of his tribe before any decisions can be made.
"As a group we will decide to move forward with repatriation," he said. "I have to know for sure from my tribal elders that that's the direction we want to go in."
The process of going through everything held by the University is a daunting task for both sides. The University possesses 707 artifacts, such as arrowheads and jewelry, and 281 bones from sites in Kansas. The University also has 15 artifacts and 104 bones from sites outside of Kansas.
The artifacts are stored in the basement of Spooner Hall, separate from the bones. Lining the walls of Spooner's basement are 48 Army green metal cabinets that stand
TRIBES WORKING WITH THE UNIVERSITY
Pawnee
Wichita and Affiliated Tribes
Osage
Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara)
Sac and Fox of Oklahoma
Sac and Fox of the Mississippi in Iowa
Prairie Band Potawatom
Citizen Potawatomi
Kickapoo of Kansas
iowa of Kansas and Nebraska
Otoe-Missouria tribes (Kansas tribes)
about 9 feet tall. Four of the cabinets house the items that will be returned. Each cabinet has about 20 drawers labeled by names like, "Griffith Site," "Meek Site" and "Floyd and Adah Jane Schultz Collection." These are the sites where the artifacts were found.
A Good Experience
"The program itself has gone real fine," he said.
Morris said working with the University had so far been a good experience.
Kitchumme agreed with Morris that the University had been accommodating.
"It's gone very well," he said.
"Everyone who has an interest in this was given the chance to see the items at different sites."
Morris, who taught junior high school in California, said he understood why universities liked to hold on to remains and objects.
"I realize some of the academic people want to keep them a little longer," he said.
Fixico said that the University was doing the right thing.
"It's to the University's credit that they went and got this grant to do this," she said.
Kitchkumme said he harbored no hard feelings toward anthropologists and museums.
"Their job is to collect." he said.
Their jobs to connect, he said. James Riding In, associate professor of justice studies at Arizona State University, and a member of the Pawnee tribe, said not all institutions and museums had done a good job with repatriation.
"In Nebraska in the 1960s, a number of remains were incinerated in a facility that was used to incinerate diseased animals." he said.
There are other museums and historical societies that have not been as forthcoming as the University of Kansas. Morris said.
A hearse and a truck carrying Pawnee skeletal remains and grave artifacts begin a journey from Lincoln, Neb., to Genao, Neb., for a reburial ceremony. Several Native American groups are in the process of determining which artifacts belong to them so that they can be reburied. Photo courtesy of Battlefields and Burial Grounds
"There's only a couple of institutions that have dug in their feet," he said. "I'm not going to say their names. They'll get it eventually." Morris said.
Riding In said one of the biggest problems with the National Park Service running the program was the large number of anthropologists who work in the department. He said many anthropologists did not like the idea of returning bones and artifacts because they preferred to study them.
After grants run out, many tribes will not be able to afford to keep the process going. Morris said the Pawnee office for repatriation may close soon because the tribe's grant
ended Jan. 1, 2000. They do not have the financial resources to pay for the office staffing.
"We can't afford to have anthropologists and scientists on the staff." he said.
With all that has been done, Native Americans still detest the fact that museums have thousands of their ancestors' remains and objects.
Wildcat said one of the problems is the way archeology has been practiced throughout the years.
"I think that one of the problems that we native people are very aware of and often restenful of is this notion that people feel like they have to dig up the remains of our ancestors in order to understand us and who we are," he said. "It's almost as if we exist as artifacts, and I think that one of the things that increasingly is being raised by indigenous people is that we're still here. If you want to find something out about Pawnee history or Cheyenne history or Dakota history or Euchee history,
go ask Eueche persons, Lakota
persons, Pawnee persons.
"When you start layering on those levels then you really see why there's an objection." he said.
Returning Home
More and more Native Americans are returning to their tribes, albeit years after their deaths. In the last five to six years, the Pawnee have repatriated around 1,000 remains and artifacts.
One hundred twenty six years after they were killed and beheaded in Kansas, the Pawnee scouts were sent home. In 1995 the six scouts were buried with full military honors in Genoa, Neb.
Riding In said the repatriation of the scouts was extremely important to the Pawnee.
"Most Pawnee can trace their lineage to one or more of these Pawnee scouts," he said. "These scouts are held in high esteem. They were placed in the earth where they belong."
- Designed by Jason Pearce
- Edited by Ben Embry
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