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[forwarded by Pat Morris. Thanks...]

http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com:80/0799toc/7special20-respect.shtml

Public Policy: A Native American Perspective
The Power of Respect

by Joe Watkins

Many American Indians still view archaeologists as arrogant scientists
who would rather study dead humans than deal with live ones. Many
believe federal policies still give scientists free rein to proceed as they
wish, even though recent federal laws mean that is not necessarily the
case.

In discussions with American Indians across the United States and
Canada, certain concerns are frequently raised: the lack of a Native
voice within the discipline; the patronizing attitude of many scientists
toward American Indians; the lack of respect for the Indian viewpoint;
and the absence of true equality between parties.

Despite recent changes to the National Historic Preservation Act,
American Indians do not have the same power as their non-Indian
counterparts. Tribal groups become frustrated when they operate in
good faith with the preservation community and are then treated as
second-class citizens.

These conflicts are products of a combination of factors derived from
cultural differences and public-policy positions. And there are definite
cultural differences in how American Indians and archaeologists view
the past. Archaeologists must not get caught up in the struggle to
"own" the past, to make the story their own. American Indians have an
important viewpoint to add to that story, and if they are unwilling or
unable to contribute, a dimension is lost. Archaeologists must find a
way to get all parties equally involved in telling the story.

Passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation
Act and the National Museum of the American Indian Act in the early
1990s changed the underlying structures upon which relations
between archaeologists and American Indians are based. Scientists
argued that these acts would jeopardize their research; American
Indians claimed science could no longer operate within a cultural and
social vacuum.

These laws signaled a shift in public policy and gave American Indians
some of the tools they need to implement changes for which they
protested in the 1970s. Yet American Indians still have many of the
same concerns that sparked the protests nearly 30 years ago. While
current public policy requires consultation with Native Americans for
archaeology on federal or tribal lands, with federal funds, or for which
a federal permit is required, the level, quality, and intent of that
consultation varies by project, by archaeologist, and by tribe.
Relationships between tribes and archaeologists have waxed and
waned based on the personalities of the individuals and the specifics
of the situations. American Indians and archaeologists, as individuals,
are generally open to those who treat them with respect and courtesy.

These are issues that require resolution. We should be uniting against
the common threat to the cultural resources of the Northern Hemisphere.
The future looks bleak unless we can ensure that American Indians
have an equal say in the way public archaeology is performed and that
the topics researched are important to all of us. Ultimately, no one will be
adequately satisfied until we all believe we  are respected and that our
opinions are considered equally in determining the "proper stewardship"
of cultural materials.

---
JOE WATKINS, with a Ph.D. from Southern Methodist University, is with
the Bureau of Indian Affairs. His research interest is archaeologists'
relationships with Native American populations.

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