Thank you for your tips; i enjoy them every week. I am particularly fond of your item from January 2016, How to Hold a Heart, closed now for comments. If i could figure out how to eMail my 'heart' response to you, Maria Wollan, i would. In any case, i love your column.
How does someone determine, or narrow down, the list of tribal contacts and then determine who represents the tribe? For example, if we consider the State of Maine and Google for tribal information we find five organized tribal groups. Would someone contact each concurrently?
1
Thank you for this article. Tribes in California have been fighting for decades for the return of their ancestors’ remains and the sacred objects that were often buried with the ancestors as part of a ritual. Because the law mentioned in this article apples only to federally recognized tribes, and many Californian tribes, in part because of the unique colonial history of California, are not federally recognized, the federal law has not worked well in their favor. Newer state legislation has passed to create a category of state-recognized tribes and enact the same rights for them. The new law also presses the institutions currently holding the ancestors’ remains and artifacts to create better processes for repatriation. Progress is slow, but it is inexorably coming. This article addresses private people who hold artifacts that might be sacred. It is hard to judge this without advice. I would urge people of conscience who hold Native Californian artifacts to consult with the California Native American Heritage Commission (nahc.ca.gov) for help.
The vast majority of Native American items are legal to own. Thousands of prehistoric items were collected by ranchers and early settlers in the west well before any laws prohibited their collection. Items from private land are also legal. The huge majority of art items produced at the end of the 19th c and early 20th c were made specifically for sale to the art market, at all levels from tourist souvenirs to masterpieces for collectors and museums. Most old Native American items still exist because some individual cherished them and protected them over time. Contemporary Native american artists are financially dependent upon current sales to collectors who are mostly non=native. The current social justice attitude that all native american items should be returned to tribes is destroying the American Indian art market and the livelihood of many Native Americans who are dependent upon it. These items often serve as a bridge of understanding between the two different cultures and are collected to show one's appreciation and respect for that culture. Nearly all commercial looting of ruins ended with the passage of ARPA in 1979. Sure, there are individuals who loot given the opportunity, but looting is not a viable commercial activity. It's too expensive to dig up material and most of it is not valuable enough to pursue for money.
The current STOP act legislation pending in Congress would be a complete disaster for the Native American art market, both old and new.
4
@steve there is a difference between what is legal, and what is ethical - the laws you speak of are imported Euro centric settler colonial laws, applied to a new land where 'laws' had existed since time immemorial, laws that were not based on capitalist possession/ownership.
8
"Items from private land are also legal." Legal has a lot to do with who's writing the law. And all "private land" was once tribal land before ethnic cleansing.
5
@steve, the article specifically says that the Navajo Nation is not focused on recovering art that was made specifically for sale to the art market. The focus is on human remains and objects used in religious ceremonies, especially funerals. Just because the law at the time didn't specifically forbid looting gravesites and religious sites doesn't mean it was right to do so, and anyone who's holding human remains and/or ceremonial items really should try to get them back to the land and the people from whom they were "collected".
And looting is most certainly a viable commercial activity, I'm afraid. It's often much cheaper to steal something than it is to purchase it legally.
2
Funerary objects are one thing - human remains quite another! How could a person deal with human remains found in storage, and not just ceremonial items? What is the potential legal culpability? If someone has human remains in their possession, law enforcement will surely have something to say about that?
This article encourages people to contact the tribe of origin. What if the origin is not obvious? The Navajo Nation covered a large area, but surely even its territories were blurry along the edges. This problem is even more acute for most other areas.
I'm not Native American, I'm originally from a state that was seized from its original residents. Where I come from, quite a few people inherited tribal items. These are private individuals, not museums.One person in my extended acquaintance is struggling with how to repatriate items without facing potential legal consequences for decisions made generations earlier.
This article raises far more questions than it answers. This complex of issues deserves far more than a scant three paragraphs. The tribes deserve more consideration and dignity! The unwilling and unwitting heirs of artifacts deserve guidance that will help them aid in repatriation without risking criminal charges. Please, NYT, follow up with a proper in-depth, reported story on the complexities!
6
Lovely article, but short on actionable information. Who do we contact if it's likely not a Navajo Nation item, but another Nations' item? Is there a website or a list with geographic areas and likely Nation contact names?
8
@Randi I am sure the NMAI (National Museum of American Indian) would be willing to help find the appropriate community/Nation to contact - plenty of contact details on their website
2
I seriously doubt whether all who possess "tribal items" would want to return them.
@Tuvw Xyz I don't think that's really the point. Tribal items don't REALLY belong to the person who found them, this isn't elementary school and "finders, keepers" doesn't really apply. Tribal artifacts belong to their tribe, not to the people who were given tribal lands after the tribe was killed off or forcibly removed.
2
Imagine if all antiquities had to be returned to their places of origin. I'd have to go to Iraq to see Assyrian wall reliefs. Or to the Arctic to see an Inuit mask. And when I'd arrive there most of the items would be in storage. What a drab world this would be.
2
@Horace, I am imagining as you suggest. And I think it would be a great benefit to many institutions if either antiquities were returned to their place of origin or the cultural institutions were compensated for the works of art and of cultural significance that were removed from their places of origin without consent or compensation.
And no you wouldn't necessarily need to go somewhere to see the antiquities. You probably know that museums and other institutions are constantly arranging loans, exchanges, traveling shows, and other ways for objects to be brought to those who wish to see them. And there is a wonderful invention called the Internet which allows you to view art and antiquities from all over the world without leaving your home.
2