Message-Id: <v04011701b2c257cd2b77@[128.253.55.14]>
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 10:04:48 -0400
To: Recipient List Suppressed:;
From: Native Americas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: CALL FOR SCHOLARS IN NATIVE STUDIES
The following is an article from the Winter 1998 issue of Native Americas, published by the Akwe:kon Press at Cornell University. For more information on how to stay informed of emerging trends that impact Native peoples throughout the hemisphere visit our website at http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu.
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Repatriation Forum Held in Vancouver
By Nicolasa I. Sandoval
Representatives from more than 50 Native nations in Canada and the United
States convened this summer at the University of British Columbia's First
Nations House of Learning in Vancouver for a forum on repatriation.� The
event, co-sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of
the American Indian and the University of British Columbia's Museum of
Anthropology, marked the first forum to gather First Nations and museum
professionals for a discussion of repatriation issues.� As national and
provincial Canadian law does not govern repatriation of human remains and
sacred objects from museums to First Nations, the forum offered an
opportunity for First Nations peoples to share their experiences and
exchange information with Native peoples from the United States who are
involved in repatriation processes. By Nicolasa I. Sandoval
The subject of repatriation was addressed in a 1992 task force report sponsored by the Assembly of First Nations and the Canadian Museums Association titled, "Turning the Page: Forging New Partnerships Between Museums and First Peoples."� The task force, charged with presenting recommendations for ongoing working partnerships between museums and First Peoples, decided not to endorse repatriation legislation.� The report recommended that repatriation activities involving First Nations in Canada be accomplished through negotiation.� Now, as dozens of First Nations in British Columbia are in treaty negotiations, a discussion of repatriation experiences is of particular relevance.�
Representatives from the National Museum of the American Indian, the University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology, Royal Ontario Museum, Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Royal British Columbia Museum offered information on their respective repatriation policies and answered questions from First Nations representatives about repatriation procedures.� A portion of the conference devoted to ceremonial care issues stressed that protocols are determined at a community level.�
Gloria Cranmer Webster (Namgis) discussed her personal experience of repatriation activity in Canada before the task force report and prior to treaty negotiations.� Cranmer Webster recounted her Kwakwaka'wakw community's efforts to bring seized potlatch materials home from the museums that held them. In 1975, Canada's National Museum of Man agreed to return potlatch materials in its holdings, with the caveat that a museum be built to house and display the collection.� As a result, two museums were built, one at Cape Mudge, the other at Alert Bay.� Later, potlatch materials housed at the National Museum of the American Indian were repatriated. Cranmer Webster emphasized that the attempt to bring the potlatch materials back home was an exercise of political rights and not for the purpose of reintroduction to cultural use.� "They came back as symbols of our cultural history," Webster said.�
Native Americas Journal
Akwe:kon Press
Cornell University
300 Caldwell Hall
Ithaca, New York 14853
Tel. (607) 255-4308
Fax. (607) 255-0185
E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu
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