8th Annual Repatriation Conference: 
​ReACTivating Our Ancestral Connections

Recorded Sessions

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

​​Opening & Welcome: ReACTivating Our Ancestral Connections
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the Association on American Indian Affairs provide the opening. ​
Tlingit Repatriation in Southeast Alaska: Awakening our Ancestral Spirituality
​Gail Dabaluz, Tlingit/Haida/Tsimshian Tribe Yéil (Raven) Moiety, University of Alaska Fairbanks; and Judy Ramos, Tlingit Tribe Yéil (Raven) Moiety, University of Alaska
​
​This presentation shares the Tlingit traditional structure, providing the spiritual foundation to receive our Ancestors’ Remains and Belongings through NAGPRA. We collaborate and rely upon the wisdom of our culture bearers, Tribal and museum staff to repatriate Tlingit at.oowú (objects). These are Sacred objects and practices that embody and memorialize Ancestral experiences and claims to territory, resources, and relationships. Objects appear only at our koo.eex’ (ceremonial structure).
Updates on Boarding School Initiative
Updates on Boarding School Initiative

No session description.
Wwithmiktthéwimdëwêk athë nizhokmëwawat ndankobthëgnenanen: They Work Together in Order to Help Our Ancestors
Citizens of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians: Matt Bussler, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer; Nicole Halloway, Director, Center of History and Culture; with Christine Morseau, Chair, Majel Demarsh, Treasurer, John Low, Officer, Kevin Daughtery, Officer, of the Pokagon Traditions and Repatriation Committee
​
The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians community-led Traditions & Repatriation Committee and the Tribal Historic Preservation Office, with the Center for History and Culture all work together to make decisions, give direction, and support all NAGPRA and repatriation matters. Learn about the history, development, and success of this model and the importance of keeping Elders, knowledge keepers, youth and traditional practitioners involved in repatriation. ​
​NAGPRA Updates: Improving Compliance and Technical Assistance
National NAGPRA Program’s Melanie O’Brien, Program Manager, and David Barland-Liles, Civil Penalty Investigator
​
The National NAGPRA Program has been busy providing technical assistance and training to Native Nations and institutions to support NAGPRA compliance. National NAGPRA will share important updates about NAGPRA statistics, civil penalties, potential changes to the regulations, and other information to support repatriation of Ancestors and cultural heritage.

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Keynote: Dr. Jennifer Raff, Affiliate Faculty for Indigenous Studies & Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Anthropology, University of Kansas
Paleogenomics: The Promise and the Peril of Using Genetics to Understand the Past
​
Paleogenomics, the study of DNA from Ancestors, offers extraordinary opportunities to look at the past in a new way. Ancient DNA can reveal biological relationships between individuals, groups, and even entire populations, allowing scientists to use the tools of population genetics to reconstruct history on both large and small scales. This can be of great utility to Native Nations and others wishing to demonstrate biological connections to Ancestors, get insights into Tribal histories, and explore aspects of past ecology. But paleogenomics is a complicated field, particularly in light of the problematic history of biological and anthropological research and the harms done by scientists to Native Peoples.
​Decolonizing National Museums in Northern Ireland: A Journey of Truth, Reconciliation, and Healing
Chelle McIntyre-Brewer, Cherokee Descendant, Indigenous Liaison, National Museums Northern Ireland; Michael Nephew, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians/ Seneca/Cayuga, First VP American Indian Society of D.C.; Jules Thornton, Cherokee Nation, United Keetowah Band, NAGPRA Coordinator; Irene Villaseñor, Aeta, Ifugao, and Purépecha, Member, Cultural Engagement & Education Committee, Metropolitan Museum of Art
​
​National Museums Northern Ireland has committed itself to the process of decolonizing its collections and programming, which includes repatriation and forging meaningful relationships with Indigenous Peoples around the world. When everyone has a willingness to acknowledge historic and institutional trauma and forge a meaningful path of Reconciliation and Healing, repatriation and community building can foster understanding and growth with all involved.
Learn more about the NAGPRA Community of Practice
​Updates on the NAGPRA Community of Practice, with Anne Amati, University of Denver, Department of Anthropology
​Shifting the Burden: It's a Right, Not a Fight
Shannon Martin, Gun Lake Pottawatomi & Ojibwe, Lynx Clan, Executive Director & Founder of Cultural Pathways Group, LLC; Melanie O’Brien, Program Manager, National NAGPRA Program; Shannon O’Loughlin, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, CEO & Attorney, Association on American Indian Affairs
​
The current NAGPRA regulations have been strongly criticized as creating loopholes and burdens that the Act, and its originators, never intended. This presentation will provide case studies and insight on how the regulations can be revised to shift the burden away from Native Nations and better implement NAGPRA’s purpose of returning Ancestors and culture that institutions and agencies have never had a “right of possession” to.
​Silly Things People (and their Institutions) Say About Repatriation
Silly Things People (and their Institutions) Say About Repatriation Deanna L. Byrd, NAGPRA Liaison, Historic Preservation Department, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; Amber Hood, Director, Historic Preservation & Repatriation; Terry Kemper, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe; Shannon Martin, Gun Lake Pottawatomi & Ojibwe, Lynx Clan, Executive Director & Founder of Cultural Pathways Group, LLC; Sydney Martin, Elder, Gun Lake Pottawatomi; Melissa Wiatrolik, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians


NAGPRA practice has changed a lot in the last 30 years. Can you believe all the education and advocacy that Native Nations have taken on to deflect many of the long-held beliefs that Native Peoples are property – or that all of our oral traditions are just myths and made-up stories – and even that there are no Native Peoples left? Practitioners will share their stories – and we hope you will share yours, too – about the “silly” (in retrospect) things perpetuated by academia and science about who Native Peoples are. Panelists will talk about strategies to better educate and build relationships with those who have yet to understand the fierce resilience and perseverance of Indigenous Peoples
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Cultural Event
​Join the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians as they share their culture and values through a drum and dance demonstration.

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Keynote: Angeline Boulley, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians
Representation Matters: Telling OUR Stories
​
Stories and storytelling are the foundation of how traditions, language, and culture were passed from generation to generation. Indigenous Peoples have a long history of telling stories through oral traditions that included oral storytelling, singing, and poetry. Children and youth literature is fraught territory for Indigenous Peoples and Native representation supports healthy Native Nations. Let us all be a positive influence as we mentor the next generation!
​Supporting Cultural Continuity Through Indigenous Care Guidance
Laura Bryant, Anthropology Collections Manager/NAGPRA Coordinator, Gilcrease Museum, University of Tulsa; Lourdes Henebry-DeLeon, NAGPRA Program Director, Professor, Central Washington University; Colleen Medicine, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Program Director, Association on American Indian Affairs; Nicolette Meister, Director and NAGPRA Coordinator, Logan Museum of Anthropology, Beloit College; Angela Neller, Kanaka ‘Oiwi, Curator, Wanapum Heritage Center; Marla Taylor, Curator of Collections, Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Katelyn Trammel, Collection Manager, University of Nebraska State Museum
​
​The heart of every museum is its collections, expressed through avenues of stewardship, education, exhibition, and research. For decades, museums and academic institutions have been the accepted authority on Indigenous Peoples’ material culture. This structure is built on the foundations of colonization that show the public a version of history that is often disconnected from the very people the institution seeks to educate about. The values expressed in museum collection stewardship resonate throughout the entire institution. The Indigenous Collections Care working group advocates for different methodologies of collections stewardship that centers concepts of culturally appropriate care and privileges Indigenous Knowledge.
Learn more about the Association’s Repatriation Efforts
Learn more about the Association on American Indian Affairs’ Repatriation efforts, with Colleen Medicine, Anishinaabe, Program Director at the Association. ​
​The New UK Repatriation Guidance: What Does This Mean for Native Nations?
Alexander Herman, Director, Institute of Art & Law ; Emily Gould, Institute of Art & Law ; Henrietta Lidchi, Director, Wheelwright Museum; Martin Schultz, Curator, Acequia Madre House
The Arts Council of England commissioned the Institute of Art and Law to develop guidance titled “Restitution and Repatriation: A Practical Guide for Museums in England,” to support UK museums in matters related to the restitution and repatriation of cultural objects. The guidance provides a “practical framework” for museums including best practices and case studies, helping institutions act appropriately and considerately in the context of claims for the return of collection objects. Learn more about this guidance and repatriation from the UK. (Go to ial.uk.com/arts-council-restitution-guidance to download a copy of the UK guidance.) ​
​A View From the Top: Institutions Share How They Are Making a Difference
AND
Conference Wrap Up & Closing
​A View From the Top: Institutions Share & How They Are Making a Difference
​
Sabrina C. Agarwal, Professor of Anthropology and Special Advisor to the Chancellor at the University of California Berkeley; Heather Miller, Wyandotte, Director of Historic Preservation and Tribal Relations, Illinois State Museum; Steve Murray, Director, Alabama Department of Archives & History; Jane Pickering, William and Muriel Seabury Howells Director, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology; Ben Secunda NAGPRA Project Specialist, University of Michigan; Judith Stoddart, Associate Provost for University Arts and Collections, Michigan State University; Ryan J. Wheeler, Ph.D., Director, Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, Phillips Academy
Institutions share how they freed themselves of obstacles that prevented their efforts with Native Nations to repatriate culturally affiliated Ancestors and burial belongings, sacred items and objects of cultural patrimony. How has repatriation improved the institutions’ missions to better serve and educate the public? Ask questions and learn more about the positive and healing work being done by institution partners.


&

Conference Wrap Up: 

​Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the Association on American Indian Affairs.
​