Anthropology

Last edited Fri Feb 17, 2023, 12:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Things have been progressing in the direction of interaction with the descendants in recent years. I live between several large reservations and have had numerous professional interactions with the governments of some on various occasions with tight ties to some individuals in five different Tribes. Celebrate some ceremonies with them though I have not learned much of their languages, not enough to engage in dialogue but enough to sing some of their songs with them. It's an interesting interaction, many approach me asking which Tribe am I from? I tell them I don't know, I was raised by white people. I am sort of a chameleon in appearance, few can figure out what I am though some make crazy assumptions.

Anyway, I do know quite a bit about NAGPRA, have participated in a recovery, once - it's a serious business for the Tribes and you have to be invited to some of the repatriations. In prep for my graduate program I had to take at least one law course so I went with Federal Indian Law, which is fascinating for a lot of reasons, and the history of NAGPRA and other Acts were addressed. It's served me well.

In the western states, though Wisconsin fits in this category, there seems to be a constant battle over sovereignty of Indians, their land and their rights on and off the rez, constant. People aren't taught history or government properly so they have no clue beyond the tropes we hear as children... too many adults operate on that ignorance.

I could go on. The happenings regarding archeology and genealogy in the midwest is a little further ahead of things out here. Too many rednecks are still trying to eradicate the original people of this continent... and their history. The great American genocide continues, hardly hampered by law or decency.