Project ‘will bury’ historical research, ‘ruin archaeology,’ scholar says
California public universities are adding new staff positions this summer to return Native American artifacts in their possession to tribes.
The new positions are being advertised as the California State University and University of California systems work to comply with a state “repatriation” law.
The 2001 Cal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires government agencies, public higher education institutions, and museums to return Native American human remains and cultural items to tribes.
CSU currently is advertising seven open positions related to NAGPRA and “tribal relations” at its various campuses and Chancellor’s Office, according to its online jobs board. Titles for the positions include “Director of Tribal Relations” and “Repatriation Coordinator.”
One position at Cal Poly Pomona, “Tribal Relations and NAGPRA/CalNAGPRA Director,” offers a salary of up to $124,980.
The job involves serving as “primary liaison and conduit with Tribal Nations, governments, and urban American Indian communities strengthening the identity of the University as a leader in tribal engagement and partnerships.” Duties also include ensuring the university is complying with the state law, according to the job description.
“Hiring experienced, full-time employees is part of building the crucial infrastructure needed to accomplish repatriation of all ancestors and cultural items on our campuses to Tribes in a timely and respectful manner,” CSU spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith told The College Fix by email last week.
Responding to questions about the nature of the positions, she said they are “long term,” and “salaries range by campus based on the unique circumstances at each campus.”
Further, Bentley-Smith told The Fix, “The California State University is committed to achieving full compliance with the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and related California laws.”
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Additionally, the University of California has a job listing for an “archaeological collections manager,” as well as an unpaid, for-credit internship at its Long Beach campus regarding “ethnographic curation and NAGPRA.”
The Fix reached out to the University of California’s media office twice within the past two weeks, asking about the positions and the repatriation law, but did not receive a response.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Weiss, professor emeritus of anthropology at San Jose State University, told The Fix these changes are going to “ruin archaeology.”
“Most universities have repatriated all the human remains and artifacts that were clearly linked to modern tribes,” she said in a recent email. “[T]his latest round of repatriation is a result of overreaching laws that will end up emptying university labs and classrooms, and ruin archaeology.”
Weiss, author of the new book “On the Warpath: My Battles with Indians, Pretendians, and Woke Warriors,” has been speaking out against the repatriation law for years. Last year, she and San Jose State settled a lawsuit after Weiss alleged university leaders publicly “disparag[ed]” her and “severely restrict[ed] her ability to conduct research.”
She told The Fix the universities’ repatriation efforts “will bury archaeological and historical research.”
“This is giving people an immense amount of money to hand over crucial skeletal collections that should be preserved for future studies and to teach students about skeletal anatomy,” she said.
Weiss expressed concerns that the new jobs will not involve research that delves into “whether the remains are truly linked to these modern tribes.” Instead, she told The Fix the employees likely will just “blindly go along with any indigenous request.”
“Student tuition money should be spent on improving access to important materials, such as artifacts and collections that can be used for Master’s theses, PhD work, and even learning skeletal anatomy for our future forensic scientists,” she told The Fix.
The hiring comes after a California State Auditor report last year found the California State University needed to act with more urgency to return the Native American artifacts that are in its possession.
“… of the 21 campuses with NAGPRA collections, more than half have not repatriated any remains or cultural items to tribes and … two campuses that returned remains or cultural items did not follow NAGPRA requirements when doing so,” the audit states.
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IMAGE: California State University, Long Beach/Facebook
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