At the 2021 SAAs, an attendee gave a presentation entitled ‘Has Creationism Crept Back into Archaeology?’ The presentation misrepresented the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), which has been settled law for more than thirty years.

Through the statement below, the UMMAA community affirms its support for our Indigenous colleagues and for NAGPRA. 

 

The UMMAA stands in solidarity with our Indigenous colleagues and shares their concerns about the anti-Indigenous scholarship presented at the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) meetings this year. We acknowledge that archaeologists hold diverse viewpoints, yet the SAA should not be a space for presenting ideas that uphold white supremacy. The presentation ‘Has Creationism Crept Back into Archaeology?’ was offensive, misrepresents NAGPRA, and does not reflect contemporary discourse in the field of archaeology. As a museum, we unequivocally support NAGPRA and are committed to respecting and cultivating relationships with Indigenous and descendant communities.

We reaffirm our commitment to:

1) Listen. To diverse voices, in archaeology, throughout the academy, and amongst the public;

2) Speak. Loudly, in protest, when inequalities touch our museum and university community;

3) Act. Using our research for the good of all people, to help bring understanding and change;

4) Support. Carefully and with reverence, the ancestors and cultural materials under our care, many of which bear witness to colonial oppressions; and

5) Remember. The University of Michigan is located on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Wyandot (Wyandotte), Seneca, Delaware, Shawanese (Shawnee), Miami, Sauk and Fox, and others. In 1817, the Bodewadami, Odawa, and Ojibwe Nations made the largest single gift to the early University, when they granted land through Article 16 of the Treaty at the Foot of the Rapids so that their children could be educated. Through these words of acknowledgment, their contemporary and ancestral ties to the land, sovereignty, and their contributions to the University are recognized and reaffirmed. As a Museum, we will work to hold the University of Michigan more accountable in sustaining mutually beneficial partnerships with Indigenous peoples, communities, and nations that recognize and fulfill their rights and aspirations.

Signed:

Dr. Alicia R. Ventresca Miller, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Curator of Asian Archaeology UMMAA

Dr. Michael L. Galaty, Professor of Anthropology and Classical Studies, Curator of European and Mediterranean Archaeology, Director UMMAA

Lauren Pratt, M.A., Doctoral Candidate, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

Nicholas Nagoshe Trudeau, Doctoral Candidate, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

Dr. Raven Garvey, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Curator of Circumpolar Archaeology UMMAA

Hannah Hoover, PhD Student, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

Joyce Marcus, UMMAA

Dr. Robin A. Beck, Professor of Anthropology and Curator of North American Archaeology, UMMAA

Timothy D. Everhart, Ph.D. Candidate, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

Dr. Brian A. Stewart, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Curator of African Archaeology UMMAA

Martin Menz, Doctoral Candidate, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

Jennifer Larios, Doctoral Candidate, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

Soren Frykholm, PhD student, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

Laura Bossio, Doctoral Candidate, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

Matthew T. Brown, PhD Student, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

Erina Baci, PhD Student, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

Ian Beggen, PhD Student, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

J. Amadeaus Scott, NAGPRA Collections Manager, UMMAA

Elizabeth Noll, editor, UMMAA

Andrea Blaser, Collections Manager, UMMAA

John Klausmeyer, illustrator and graphic artist, UMMAA

Dr. Giulia Saltini Semerari, Research Affiliate and Lecturer, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

Kara Larson, PhD Student, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

Jim Moss, Collections Manager, UMMAA

Amy Winchester, Administrative Assistant, UMMAA

Györgyi Parditka, Doctoral Candidate, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

Iride Tomažič, Doctoral Candidate, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

Kimberly Swisher, Doctoral Candidate, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

Elspeth Geiger, Doctoral Candidate, UMMAA Department of Anthropology

Angie Feak, PhD Student, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology

Jo Osborn, PhD Candidate, UMMAA & Department of Anthropology