Moderator: Jan Bernstein, NAGPRA Coordinator, Museum of Anthropology, University
    of Denver, Denver, CO
 

Elizabeth A Sackler, Ph.D., President, American Indian Ritual Object Repatriation
    Foundation, New York, NY

The repatriation movement cannot be separated from the history of these United States. To the contrary, we are at an historical transition and assumptive behavior of the past is no longer valid. This paper explores the results of the economic invasion into the sacred space of art and spirituality and suggests modalities for the potential multiple benefits of intercultural communication, education, and redress.

The Indian slave trade, the westward movement, treaties in exchange for land (the ignorance and denial of their existence), and federal policies of genocide are a few of the horrors that American Indians suffered since Columbus' arrival in 1492. The epidemics of European diseases extinguished 90% of the Indigenous population. Laws replaced guns outlawing spiritual ceremonies, forcing land allotments that displaced communal ownership values, forced relocation, reservations, and punitory boarding schools that preceded the threat of legal termination. It is the historic fact upon which this country is built, the nerve fiber upon which we walk, the context out of which the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) emerged. Racism, cultural genocide, and exploitation of American Indian people are the human conditions and inhumane restraints that motivate the repatriation movement.

The Indian art market brought Indian artifacts, previously considered an archeological curios, to collectors. Current observations of the indifferent attitudes with which the art market sells and collectors buy spoils of war, spiritual items belonging to living cultures, and older items sold by families in desperation, is startling. Private auction houses and art dealer, are not bound by NAGPRA and most continue to sell sensitive items. Investment mentality has a powerful impact on the commodization of spiritual material. Founded in 1992, the American Indian Ritual Object Repatriation Foundation is a non-federally funded intercultural partnership committed to assisting in the return of sacred ceremonial material to their nations of origin and educating the public about the importance of repatriation. The Repatriation Foundation assists Native Peoples in strategies to effect the return of spiritual materials from collectors who contact us with an item they believe should be returned. The Foundation turns to our Indian partners who determine, according to their process, if the item is desired home, where and to whom. The donor deeds the item to the Foundation, may choose to receive a tax deduction allowable by law, and we, in turn, deed the item to the appropriate individual, clan, or society. Repatriations from non-Indian donors in the private sector over the last year indicate an optimistic future. The Repatriation Foundation never purchases items.

Steve Banegas, Chairperson, Kumeyaay Cultural Repatriation Committee (KCRC),
    Lakeside, CA

The Mission of the Kumeyaay Cultural Repatriation Committee (KCRC) is to protect and preserve ancestral remains, sacred lands, sacred objects and funerary objects under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) for today and future generations. KCRC is unique in that it is comprised of 12 Kumeyaay tribes of San Diego County: Barona, Campo, Cuyapaipe, Inja-Cosmit, Jamul, La Posta, Manzanita, Mesa Grande, San Pasqual, Santa Ysabel, Sycuan, and Viejas, all working together cooperatively to achieve their goal of repatriation. This presentation described KCRC beginnings, operations, progress, and future goals. It is our hope that talking about our efforts might give assistance to other Native American groups considering joining together in the repatriation effort.
 

Louis Guassac, Vice-Chair Representative, Kumeyaay Cultural Repatriation Committee,
    Lakeside, CA

Repatriation includes our aboriginal territory. The imposition of the border has had an adverse impact on the Kumeyaay people that have occupied the coastal plains, mountains, and desert regions of what is now Southern California. This presentation provided background information on how the Kumeyaay Border Task Force (KBTF) was formed by tribal government resolution. Our objective was to restore the Kumeyaay=s ability to cross and re-cross, as they have done for thousands of years without hindrance, for cultural exchange and social visits, as well as ceremonial purposes. KBTF has coordinated with various Federal agencies and the Mexican government to repatriate the cultural history of the approximately one thousand Kumeyaay living on ejidos (reservations) in Baja California.