UC Berkeley Destroys Native American Sacred Site

BERKELEY, CA- University of California police moved in yesterday morning and cut many limbs and branches of a Redwood tree and cut down twelve Oak trees that have been protected by tree-sitting protesters for the last 21 months. Five people were arrested as they peacefully pleaded with arborists not to destroying the trees of the Memorial Oak Grove deemed a sacred burial site to Ohlone Indians.Twelve trees were cut today and the University says they will continue cutting 46 over the weekend. Four protesters remain in a single Redwood tree in the center of the grove. Arborists trimmed most of the branches from the Redwood tree occupied by the four remaining tree sitters. Cutting the branches made it virtually impossible for the tree sitters to move from tree to tree. A spokesman for the campus said that within three days, the University would no longer honor its agreement to ensure they had adequate nutrition and water. The tree sitters currently only have one liter of water to share between four people as they sit in 90 degree heat.

The Memorial Oak Grove is regarded as a sacred place to Native American people and is documented as such by UC Berkeley’s own Anthropology Department. There is evidence of 2 shell mounds sites in the area, with 19 ancestral remains found within them. Along with UC Berkeley’s attempt to develop on a sacred place, they are guilty of housing over 17,000 sacred remains and objects. UCB currently holds the largest human remains collection in the United States of which it is not in compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)

“I brought my five year old daughter and two month old son out today to bear witness to the massacre of sacred life,” said Morning Star Gali of the Pit River Tribe and co-chair of Advocates to Protect Sacred Sites. “The cops responded by yelling to move them behind the median. I asked if they would stand by as complacent if it was their grandmother’ s gravesites being desecrated. I want my children here to witness the destruction of sacred life and how important it is to protect it. I wanted them to witness the cops, arborists and UC Officials that participated and cheered as the trees came crashing down from bulldozers. This exhibits the ongoing Human Rights abuses committed by the University. They refuse to comply with NAGPRA by holding 13,000 of our ancestors remains hostage, they illegally reorganized NAGPRA with no tribal consultation and now they continue to desecrate sacred burial grounds.”

The Memorial Grove is a native Coast Live Oak ecosystem. Native oaks support the most complex terrestrial ecosystems in California. The California Native Plant Society CNPS has stated that the Memorial Oak Grove is “an important gene bank for the Coast Live Oak.” Every one of the oaks in the grove should be protect by law and the Berkeley Coast Live Oak moratorium forbids cutting mature Coast Live Oaks in Berkeley. UC refuses to recognize the law. The grove is also part of a National Historic Site. The Stadium and landscape is a memorial to Californians who died in World War I.

The tree sitters are urging people to come and show support for the trees and bear witness to the University of California’s blatant disregard to sacred sites and native ecosystems.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/06/18533607.php

Repossession, Decolonization, and Anthropology: The Return of First Nations Remains

“Members of the Tseycum First Nation from the Saanich Peninsula of southern Vancouver Island arrived home from New York City Thursday morning with some deeply personal cargo that left the island more than a century ago”

(CBC News, “First Nations remains return home to Vancouver Island: Spent decades at American Museum of Natural History in New York City,” June 12, 2008).

The remains of 50 persons were returned this week, in act of repossession that marks an attempt to continue the decolonization of aboriginal society, and the decolonization of the museum and the practice of archaeology, which in some parts is still a branch of anthropology.

“I fell across some papers about an archaeologist named Harlan Ingersoll Smith,” Cora Jacks said by phone from New York Wednesday.

Further research revealed that Smith was the former head of archaeology at the Geological Survey of Canada at the beginning of the 20th century.

Like many archaeologists of the time, Smith made a business out of digging up remains from native burial sites around B.C., which were then sold to museums around the world, with the proceeds often funding research expeditions to remote areas of the province.

“Five dollars for a skull and anywhere from $7.50 to $10 for the whole remains,” said Cora Jacks.

The practice was common among archeologists and museums at the turn of the century, and like the remains of many other indigenous people from around the world, some of the bones of 50 of the Tseycum forebears were bought by the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

For a video of the ceremony for the return of the remains, please click here (a new window will open, using Windows media player).

For videos of the news report, see the report in either Real Media or Quicktime.

Should Anthropologists Apologize?

Coming at the end of a week which has seen national and local apologies to aboriginals in Canada for attacks on their societies and cultures via the removal of children, and thus an aboriginal future (or at least this was the plan), this story about the return of remains, about the repossession of a past, seems to coincide well.

The issue of anthropology versus indigenous sovereignty came up early in the history of this blog, with posts such as this one, that one, and the other. And while some will argue, “it’s not an either-or, binary, dichotomous issue” — this is now the standard recitation offered in the face of conflict, and it’s a way to elude being the target of criticism — one will note how many universities and museums continue to fight against the return of remains, and preserving their roles as tombs. In addition, the level of resentment against aboriginal nations for wanting the remains of their dead, coupled with trends in anthropology that seek to delegitimate their identities and traditions, with anthropologists offering ‘counter evidence’ in court cases involving the recognition of aboriginal nations, and so on … one has to wonder if the time has finally come for anthropology associations and museums to offer official apologies of their own. One has to wonder, if hardened conservative politicians can take the step of admitting wrong, why anthropologists would want to find a thousand reasons for not doing so, looking for nuance for all the wrong reasons, and coming up with non-statements or no statements at all.

RECLAIM THE ANTHROPOLOGIX

Another treasure accidentally found on YouTube — “Anthem of Freelance Anthropology” shown on MTV.

Freedom sounds mix of Ehtnographic Public Domain Footage:

[FOOTAGE]
EDWARD S. CURTIS
“IN THE LAND OF WAR CANOES:
KWAKIUTL INDIAN LIFE ON THE NORTHWEST COAST”(1914)

ZORA NEALE HURSTON
“FIELDWORK”(1928 )

MAYA DEREN
“DIVINE HORSEMEN
THE LIVING GODS OF HAITI”(1947)

[MUSIC]
THE SKATALITES
“FREEDOM SOUNDS”

In addition to the YouTube channel, there is the anthropologix blog (in Japanese). As far as I could understand, the maker of the video is a Tokyo-based band called Illcommonz (“ill+commons” see: http://www.myspace.com/illcommonz), who have produced a number of interesting dub/alternative pieces such as “Junk and Progress of the Man,” and “Taro the Voodoo Man.” The band’s Japanese website can be found at: http://illcomm.exblog.jp/. Among the band’s influences are Jacques Derrida (incidentally, see my collection of videos in the vodpod to the right, there is one of Derrida “On Love and Being” where he seems to be tortured by the question, “what about love,” painful and yet funny to watch). The artists in the band are identified as: “Contemporary Artist, Independent Ethnographer, Art & Literature Critic, Graphic Designer, Movie Maker, Track Maker, Part-time Lecturer, Gift-Economist, Expressive Activist, Precariate, and some others.” One of the artists is Masanori Oda (photo) who identifies himself as an ethnologist and installation artist. I will return to the ideas and questions this phenomenon evokes and provokes, in subsequent posts.

For more information and discussion of this video, please click here.

American Indians confront UC-Berkeley over remains

From The San Francisco Chronicle

Native Americans ask UC Berkeley to return museum artifacts

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Native American groups rallied Friday at UC Berkeley in an attempt to get campus officials to allow them to return thousands of museum artifacts to tribes from California to Alaska.

A group that included university staff and tribal representatives used to decide which items must be returned to the tribes, but a reorganization at the Hearst Museum put museum staff members in charge, and tribal leaders say the new configuration shuts them out.

The move comes as increasing numbers of tribal leaders, using a law approved nearly 20 years ago, try to get possession of human remains and cultural artifacts.

After an hourlong noon rally – during which they extolled the virtues of relinquishing to tribes the remains of 13,000 Native Americans stored at the museum – the 200 protesters marched from Sproul Hall to campus administration offices where they demanded to meet with Chancellor Robert Birgeneau.

Assistant Chancellor Beata FitzPatrick emerged briefly from California Hall to assert that the university is abiding by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

READ MORE…

Senate Panel Revisits Kennewick Controversy, Sides with Tribes

Senate panel OKs bill that could return Kennewick Man to tribes

RICHLAND, Wash. — A U.S. Senate committee has approved a bill that could allow American Indian tribes to claim the ancient bones of Kennewick Man, a 9,300-year-old skeleton found on the banks of the Columbia River in 1996.

This is the third time a change has been proposed to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The change would ensure that federally recognized tribes could claim ancient remains even if a direct link to a tribe can’t be proven.

The act governs the control of American Indian skeletons, requiring museums and federal agencies to return them to tribes if there is evidence that links the remains to the tribes.

This latest two-word addition tucked inside a bill to allow tribal participation in methamphetamine grants, among other things, would expand the definition of what remains are considered ancestral. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee approved the bill last week.