My thoughts on todays Anthropology Conference

After sitting in on a conference about Indigenous and Black repatriation of our ancestors these topics of human remains the study of Anthropology and Archaeology always leave me feeling overwhelmed with emotions. First off I would like to say that the one thing that I did enjoy about this panel discussion is that every panelist was Black or Indigenous. And represented organizations that are ran by Black and Indigenous academics.

For me being both Black and Indigenous I do not have the luxury of detachment from the subject matter. I do not get the privilege of just sitting back and listening and learning about the violence these two sciences has caused my people. Communities affected by settler colonialism know that we have ancestors and our ancestral items held within boxes, containers and behind museum glass not only here in the United States but globally. We have our ancestors taken from us, from graves sites, unmarked graves of unspeakable violence and stolen relatives that never made it home,because of how genoicde and slavery took our families away from us. These are things will always make me emotional regardless of how long I have been studying these sciences. Because my community and myself are personally affected by the actions of non-POC anthropologists and archaeologists and the institutions that allow them to be in positions of leadership.

During the conference the panelist spoke of their work working with universities, museums and historical societies in order to bring our ancestors and cultural items home where they belong. But not only that but the legacy that these institutions continue to carry out in the eradication of African American/ African and Native knowledge. They way these institutions not only used our ancestors to further there racism, by the way of uphold thing like slavery, and the campaigns to “settle the New world”  that moved on to create things like Jim Crow law in the south. These institutions in many ways continue to use their foundations in racist Anthropological studies to continue to teach a false narrative of the history of the land. While in the last 20 years the movement for Black, Indignous and other people of color to be the ones to tell our own stories, there is still a steel wall that prevents real learning and reconciliation to happen within these predominantly white centers of learning.  

For BIPOC anthropologists and archaeologists we have fought for laws like NAGPRA to help with the goal of making sure that Indigenous ancestors and items are able to find their way home. It’s been years since NAGPRA has been passed, yet we still find ourselves in situations where the NAGPRA law isn’t enough to help bring our ancestors home. Similar laws have been proposed to help with the protection with Black grave sites and shared Native and Black grave sites in the parts of the south. However in some of these cases, NAGPRA doesn’t even help. And what about remains and items that sit in boxes inside research facilities and museums across Europe? Hundreds of thousands of human remains and items taken from colonized people. * gut punch*. And again in some of these places they are completely unaware of even having these items and once they find out they move them to a new storage area. This happens due to mismanagement and poor cataloging of these places. Some even try to justify having so many “scientific specimens” because there might come a time where they “might” need them. *puke* 

It makes me physically ill thinking about it. My ancestors and the ancestors of other BIPOC just sit in random containers throughout the world. Sometimes not even stored in an actual box, one of the panelists said they gave back the remains of a Native girl that was kept in an Oatmeal tin. A OATMEAL TIN! Non-BIPOC I want you to imagine… Some random person going to your family's graveyard, the graveyard that generations of your ancestors have been laid to rest… over time the area changed… your family has moved but through family stories you know you have ancestors buried in that area… Here comes a wannabe archaeologist who heard about this local graveyard that is now just community knowledge. They are interested in your people. They dig up your ancestors and place their remains in random containers. They take cultural items they find as well and add your family’s cultural heritage to their private collection. Once they die they give their “collection” to the local history museum or university and they just toss all those items into storage. 

Word gets out to your family and you are able to find the people you need to help get your ancestors back. But when you get them back they are in a butter cookie tin. How would that make you feel? 

Moving on… places like universities and museums are largely run by non Black, indigenous and other people of color, creating a culture that stops Black and Indigenous Anthropologists and Archaeologists from leading the work that truly needs to be done in these places. Even though there is a strong foundation of Black and Native anthropologists here in the United States. We have Black Anthropologists and Sociologists like Zora Neale Hurston and W. E. B. Du Bois' work has inspired people like me to do this work. Even though we have generations of Black and Native people working in these areas those of us who choose this work are still faced with the same racist and sexist gatekeeping.

 How are these largely white institutions going to dismantle these legacies? Are they going to allow Black and Native Anthropologists and Archaeologists not only teach about our own histories,but also be in control of our cultural heritage? Whether that is land that needs to be given back, or our  ancestors remains and our items brought back home. 

Which brings me to my next point. As Indigenous Nations we do hold some sovereignty as well as the ability to hold ceremonies for our ancestors once we are able to bring them back home. One of the questions that was raised during the conference was “ How do we as Black people who have had some much taken from us culturally hold the same kind of ceremonies for our ancestors.” And this doesn’t only apply to once the remains/items are brought home to a community, but also the process of being respectful to remains and items during the storage, research and the repatriation processes. Do we know how our ancestors wanted to be handled in death? Since so many Black graveyards have been harmed by white surpemaist violence we have know idea how our ancestors were laid to rest, if they were even given a proper burial to begin with. How many African American/ African remains are in the intuitions as well? Much like Natives the number is unknown, all is known that collections of remains and items of Black ancestors is just as high as Native. One question I felt like the gloss over was how reparations would tie in with the protection of Black cultural sites, ancestors and cultural items. That needs to be a part of the larger discussion. Cultural wealth needs to be restored, again this is not isolated just to the United States either. As many people are aware museums across Europe have stolen cultural items from across the continent of Africa. This is why laws that are being created need to be more farther reaching in their coverage in the protection of Black, Indignous and other People of color whose cultural knowledge and ancestral inheritance has been stolen. 

Lastly, Some of you are thinking okay if you are so impacted by this science and have to deal with all this nonsense why would you or other BIPOC want to get into Anthropology or Archeology? Well I can’t speak for others, but I know for myself that I was taught by my elders that it is our job a Indigenous people to protect our cultural knowledge. That means protecting all aspects of my culture, to make sure that I protect Black and Indigenous cultural heritage to the best of my abilities. Did I have to go to school in order to do these things, no I didn’t. But does it help? I’m honestly still on the fence on that. I’m studying these sciences not because I’m interested in continuing the abuses, I’m more interested in completely dismantling these sciences as we currently know them. These sciences are not only just rooted in the ongoing oppression of BIPOC, but also the poor, the incarcerated, 2SLGBTQ+ folks have also suffered at the hand of Anthropologists. Is it solely the responsibility of BIPOC to dismantle these institutions? No it’s not, however I believe we should be the one leading and creating the new systems that will take its place. I believe that our voices should be the creating the laws and the education materials.In our current political climate where more institutions are being confronted with their ongoing legacy of racism towards BIPOC communities, these institutions are currently participating in proformative actions that do next to nothing to help our communities or begin the necessary work to being real reparations and restorative justice for Indigenous and Black communities. Like other Black and Native academics we have talked about these issues at length for years…The question that I’m currently asking myself is how do we push for more direct action in these matters. When do the lectures and the panel discussion end and we do things in a more direct manner? When do we as BIPOC working in the humanities start demanding more than just base level justice? 

Anyways I created this post so I could sort out I’m thoughts for the short paper I have to write for school. Lol I will get to work on that next. This is mostly for my notes.