"Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits: Inside the Fight to Reclaim Native America's Culture"
By Chip Colwell, senior curator of anthropology, Denver Museum of Nature & Science
University of Chicago Press 2017

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33C: Origins of the idea of repatriation

75B: 1986 - Smithsonian held the human remains of 18,500 Native Americans; had been there for a bout a century; original anthropologist was Aleš Hrdli?ka. "Smithsonian Institution is the largest Indian cemetery in the country."

88A: National Museum of the American Indian Act (like NAGPRA but for the Smithsonian); predated NAGPRA

106B: Museum role changing, work with tribes to "reconstruct and revitalize their culture"

121C: More on this ^^^ and overcoming historical traumas

127B: Repatriation as a part of the battle for cultural survival, like demands for apologies and changing street names

133B: Example of repatriation of a cultural item serving as a "fountainhead for cultural survival"

200B: What to do about human remains that aren't culturally identifiable? Only 27 percent of the remains in 650 museums and federal repositories were identifiable, leaving 115,000 sets of remains in legal limbo

217B: Repatriation: 10 lines of inquiry must be pursued to establish shared group identity: geographical, kinship, biological, archaeological, linguistic, folklore, oral tradition, historical evidence, other information, expert opinion. A positive cultural affiliation is based on preponderance of evidence.

232A: What would you think if I dug up your grandmother because I wanted to decorate my house in Early White Man decor?

237C: Morality: Scientific pursuits - archaeology, research, the mission of a museum - aren't the be-all and end-all. "In a multicultural society we have a duty to ensure that our own beliefs do not unjustly impinge on the freedom of others to pursue theirs."

257C: If we accept that NAGPRA is about balance of scientific and Native interests, "Simply letting museums unilaterally decide to keep more than 115,000 skeletons is certainly not balanced." ... "There is nothing that precludes ‘balanced' disposition agreements in which scientific studies are allowed. The regulations do not require transfer of possession - or even reburial. If tribes granted permission, research could still be undertaken. The main difference now would be that scientists would be accountable to Native communities, rather than simply pursuing research exclusively on their own terms."