User:TeslaWannaBe/sandbox

Potential Topics:

1) Indigenous Archaeology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_archaeology The Managing Differences and In Practice section could be expanded on with more actual examples

2) Native American self-determination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_self-determination There is hardly anything in this article about the current state of affairs (post 2000s). This could be expanded on.

Final Topic: Indigenous Archaeology. The existing article has a lot of work that needs to be done on it. To begin with, a lot of the pros are in biased language that needs to be fixed. Secondly, there are many sections that can be added or expanded, like the imperialist history of archaeology, the American Indian movement and its impact on the topic, the global reach of the idea, and expanding on the issues the field address.

Potential sources: Encyclopedia of Archaeology Chapters: NATIVE AMERICAN GRAVES PROTECTION AND REPATRIATION ACT and NATIVE PEOPLES AND ARCHAEOLOGY https://search-credoreference-com.libproxy2.usc.edu/content/title/estarch?tab=contents

    2) JOURNAL ARTICLE Archaeologists and Indigenous People: A Maturing Relationship?  

http://www.jstor.org.libproxy2.usc.edu/stable/41287738?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

    3) Imperialism and Archaeology: https://usc-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=TN_proquest1299713192&context=PC&vid=01USC&lang=en_US&search_scope=EVERYTHING&adaptor=primo_central_multiple_fe&tab=everything&query=any,contains,Imperialism%20and%20Archaeology&sortby=rank&offset=0 

  4) Indigenous Archaeology: American Indian Values and Scientific Practice

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=rfuxAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=american+indian+movement+and+archaeology&ots=tzl4q5Szd4&sig=yAfUk3c3mxc4rdx9w-J9vQhT84s#v=onepage&q=american%20indian%20movement%20and%20archaeology&f=false

  5) Decolonizing Indigenous Histories : Exploring Prehistoric/Colonial Transitions in Archaeology https://usc-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=TN_scopus2-s2.0-84893134685&context=PC&vid=01USC&lang=en_US&search_scope=EVERYTHING&adaptor=primo_central_multiple_fe&tab=everything&query=any,contains,global%20indigenous%20archaeology&sortby=rank&offset=0

Week 8 Lead Article. Since we are editing an article instead of writing one from scratch, some of these sentences in our paragraph are from the current article. It's like 80% our stuff and 20% existing stuff. I hope that is alright.

Indigenous archaeology is a form of archaeology where indigenous peoples are involved in the care of, excavation and analysis of the cultural and bodily remains of peoples they consider their ancestors. It has been largely developed as a sub-discipline of archaeology in the late twentieth century, in response to some of the historical inequities caused by the influence of colonialist and imperialist viewpoints of Western archaeology in studying indigenous culture. These viewpoints interpreted indigenous artifacts and practices under political and racial agendas. The American Indian Movement sought to address many of these inequalities. Community leaders, like Vine Deloria Jr, seeing archeology as biased narrative and worked to develop indigenous archeology as a method to include indigenous people across the world into the narrative of history. This movement was not limited to the United States, and larger decolonization movements in places like Australia, New Zealand, and Canada saw movements toward indigenous archeology as well.

Outline: Intro: Define Indigenous Archeology (Source 1, Chp 2) Brief Overview of goals (source 1,2) Imperialist history of archeology. History in American: Born out of American Indian Movement Vine Deloria Jr. Looting of Slack Farm site? Mention worldwide impact, don’t spend much time on it. Goals Emphasis on Decolonizing Archeology Native Self-determination Involving indigenous people in archeology Cultural heritage and repatriation Laws passed

(Graves Protections Act, National Museum of the american indian act, Vermillion accord on human rights)

Methodologies (Shifts archeology into post colonial era, community participation and consultation, Four Field approach, listening to oral histories, non destructive methods).

Draft: We are editing an existing article. Here are some parts we will add.

    Indigenous archaeology is a sub-discipline of western archaeological theory that seeks to engage and empower indigenous people in the preservation of their heritage and to correct perceived inequalities in modern archaeology. It also attempts to incorporate non-material elements of cultures, like oral traditions, into the wider historical narrative. This methodology came out of the global anti-colonial movements of the 1970s and 1980s led by aboriginal and indigenous people in settler-colonial nations, like the United States, Canada, and Australia. Major issues the sub-discipline attempts to address include the repatriation of indigenous remains to their respective peoples, the perceived biases that western archaeology's imperialistic roots have imparted into its modern practices, and the stewardship and preservation of indigenous people’s cultures and heritage sites. This has encouraged the development of more collaborative relationships between archaeologists and indigenous people and has increased the involvement of indigenous people in archaeology and its related policies.

Potential Biases in Western Archaeology

    The modern science of archaeology involves the collection and study of material objects like human remains and culturally or historically significant items. This practice has its origins in European colonial policies. Many historical items obtained throughout the 18th and 19th centuries were acquired from colonized third world nations by European or American scientists and explorers. Some items were paid for, but many were excavated from indigenous lands without the consultation or permission of the people the items were culturally significant to. In the case of human remains, there are many documented instances of indigenous bodies being removed from battlefields or from burial sites by researchers during this time period. Many of these bodies were used to assemble collections for the purpose of biological and cultural studies. At the time, many bodies were also used by European and American scientists as evidence in the creation of racial classification systems.
    Modern archaeological practices ensure the items obtained from excavations are through legal means. The knowledge obtained from the study of these artifacts can offer many historical insights in a wide variety of fields. For instance, human remains can give information on topics from the migration patterns of ancient humans to the evolution and spread of modern diseases. Acquiring this information requires historical artifacts or remains to study. Indigenous communities are often not included or consulted in this process, and the desires of local communities can be marginalized. Findings are often not shared with the communities artifacts are obtained from, and many old artifacts are stored in museum collections for extended periods of time without being used.

Repatriation of Human Remains

    A major source of conflict between archaeologists and indigenous communities are the return of human remains removed from their land. Archaeologists need them for their research and to advance society’s knowledge, while many indigenous people do not wish for the remains to be disturbed for cultural reasons. This divide stems from how many people in both groups see the world. Scientists are trained in western schools of thought, which portrays time as linear. People beyond a couple generations into the past are seen as long gone, and it is less taboo to study their remains. In contrast, many indigenous cultures see time as circular and deceased ancestors as a current members of their society. In recent years the political climate has favored indigenous people. Many major European and American universities and museums have returned stored remains to indigenous communities around the world. 

Custodianship of Heritage

    Controlling and preserving culturally significant archaeological materials and shaping the discourse around their history are the other primary issues of indigenous archaeology. The fact based nature of archaeology as a science leads it to value sources that do not have hard evidence, like material information or data, less than those that do . Indigenous archaeology sees this approach as biasing the historical narrative because excludes cultures with non-material methods of preserving history, like oral traditions, from contribution as much to the historical narrative. It advocates for methods similar to the Four field approach in anthropology to negate this perceived bias.       
    Legislation around the stewardship and preservation of archaeological and cultural sites is perceived to be similarly biased as well. It is seen as favoring sites that have physical objects there, and often requires them to be relatively untouched by the modernization. This excludes many sites of cultural or religious value to many indigenous communities. Many of these communities are either unwilling or unable to pay for the upkeep of sites that legislation does protect, so archaeologists are brought in to do so. This may cause conflict between the two groups, since archaeologists may use invasive methods of preservation that conflict with the desires or traditions of the local community. In response to this, programs for the training of indigenous people in archaeological practices in order to allow them to consult on ongoing dig sites and the consultation of local communities before archaeological experiments begin have become more widespread.  Cultural resources management (CRM) programs, along with expanded collegiate resources and museum programs in this area are helping to engage local communities and work to address these perceived biases.