8th Annual Repatriation Conference: 
​ReACTivating Our Ancestral Connections

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​THANK YOU TO OUR HOST 
Pokégnek Bodéwadmik
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi
FOR SPONSORING THIS EVENT!
The return of Indigenous Peoples Cultural Heritage requires all of us to remember our connections with the past. Our 8th Annual Repatriation Conference is themed “ReACTivating Our Ancestral Connections” because we must ACT together to reACTivate our relationships with one another and our relationships with the past to create a world where diverse Indigenous cultures and values are lived, protected and respected.
 
The 8th Annual Repatriation Conference continues the longstanding legacy of the Association on American Indian Affairs to work at a grassroots level in order to strengthen our national and collective futures. This year’s Conference will be held on October 11, 12 & 13, 2022. The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi will be hosting at the Four Winds Casino & Resort in New Buffalo, Michigan.
“ReACTivating Our Ancestral Connections”
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​Our Ancestors dreamed about the decisions we would be making today together – and we must not let that work pass to future generations.  Native Nations, Spiritual and traditional leaders, anthropologists, archaeologists, museum curators and directors, auction house experts, dealers and collectors, artists, youth, academics, lawyers, preservation specialists, government agencies, foreign entities and institutions and the public must work together to ensure the return of Indigenous cultural heritage.
 
The Association on American Indian Affairs’ 8th Annual Repatriation Conference will focus on collectively healing from the past and committing to being good Ancestors for future generations to come. We will look to compliance, advocacy, and activism to form strategies and commitments for generational healing. The Conference will provide a welcoming and productive space for truth-telling about the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual burden that Native Nations continue to face as a direct result of their Ancestral remains and objects being stolen and not returned home.
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ReACTivating means looking to the Elders, knowledge keepers, and Ancestors that have come before us and remembering the songs, ceremonies, languages, and prayers. We must use those songs and prayers to sing our Ancestors' home and send our collective prayers far into the future for the generations to come. We cannot do this work alone – we must all ACT as good Ancestors now! Time to reACTivate!!

Community Sponsors

Accountability Sponsors

Capacity Sponsor

Keynote Speakers

​Keynote speakers include New York Times bestselling author Angeline Boulley (Ojibwe, Anishinaabe); Abigail Echo-Hawk (Pawnee), MA the Chief Research Officer at Seattle Indian Health Board and the Director of the Urban Indian Health Institute; and author and professor Jennifer Anne Raff, a geneticist and assistant professor of Anthropology and Indigenous Studies at the University of Kansas specializing in anthropological genetics relating to the initial peopling of the Americas.
Angeline Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a storyteller who writes about her Ojibwe community in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. She is a former Director of the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education. Angeline lives in southwest Michigan, but her home will always be on Sugar Island. Firekeeper's Daughter is her debut novel, and was an instant #1 NYT Bestseller. It also won the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature (Teen category) in 2022.

In this riveting novel, a biracial, unenrolled tribal member and the product of a scandal, Daunis Fontaine, has never quite fit in—both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. When her family is struck by tragedy, Daunis puts her dreams on hold to care for her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother’s hockey team.

After Daunis witnesses a shocking murder that thrusts her into a criminal investigation, she agrees to go undercover. But the deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home. How far will she go to protect her community if it means tearing apart the only world she’s ever known?
Abigail Echo-Hawk, MA (Pawnee), was born in the heart of Alaska where she was raised in the traditional values of giving, respect for all, and love. Ms. Echo-Hawk currently serves as the Director of the Urban Indian Health Institute, and the Chief Research Officer at the Seattle Indian Health Board. Her work incorporates these core principles and activities: engagement and participation of community partners; research and evaluation on health, healthcare, and other community priorities; education, training, and capacity-building for Native people, including researchers, students, and communities; infrastructure development; technical assistance; and sharing results in a way that recognizes and respects the unique cultural contexts of American Indian and Alaska Native people. In these roles she also works with American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and organizations to identify health research priorities and with health researchers to ensure research is done in a manner that respects tribal sovereignty and is culturally appropriate.

Jennifer Raff is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas with a dual Ph.D. in anthropology and genetics and over fourteen years of experience in researching ancient and modern human DNA from the Americas. In addition to her research, she has been writing on issues of scientific literacy and anthropological research at her own website, Violent Metaphors, and for The Guardian, HuffPost and Evolution Institute blogs for several years. Since 2019 she has been writing a monthly column for Forbes on emerging research in genetics and archaeology.