1 12 1 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/38d5616f8ffb37922cbb6444a6fad084.pdf a836a70dadd09deb02b81a0619a72813 PDF Text Text -------------'-~ O_!: !...!~:....:; T I N G C_.::: N_F R O N:....,:_ C U L T U R A L E X T I N <T I 0 N y ( Reversing the Flow of Traffi.c in the Market of Cultural Property by Eric Bergman Indigenous nations today are struggling to preserve their cultural identity, not by placing it behind the glass of a museum, but by the active renewal of their collective and individual cultural traditional practices. The unique religious and secular items each culture creates are fundamental to its continuity. For centuries the Indigenous people of the Americas have suffered the steady loss of their cultural property. The international community is finally beginning to recognize the obvious right a community has to its own creations. The new awareness of this important link between people and cultural artifacts is resulting in the successful restitution of previously lost or stolen items. '' C onsidering that cultural property export, and transfer of ownership of cultural property, adopted by the whether for selfish purposes or out of constitutes one or United Narions Educational, Scientific ignorance, without consideration of the basic elements and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) of civilization and at its sixteenth session in Paris on the damage done to a living culture when it is stripped of the items of its national culture. and that its true v-alue November 14, 1970. This convention is the first major step taken by the heritage. international communit>' to address The Indigenous Perspectives can be appreciated only in relation to the fullest possible information regarding its origin. history. and traditional setting." So reads the preamble of the the centuries of plunder of cultural property of Indigenous peoples. Vast theft, continues today. Items are taken, To many people who trace their Convemion on the means of prohibit· quantities or anwork. religious arti· ing and preventing the illicit import. facts. and even funerary remains have roots to European cultures, the scien~ tific study or museum preservation of found their way into museums and cultural property is considered of great private collections worldwide. This value. h is important, however. to rec~ traffic, often in the form of outright ognizc that these views are not neces- Eric Bergman is an intent al SAIIC and resemdtes arlitles for Abya Yala News. Vol. 10No. 2 13 �C 0 H F R 0 H T I H G C U l T U R A l'--~E X T-!...!'-.:::...! I...,:::.....:.:.,._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ ~~ ~~ 1 H C T_ : O N sarily shared b)• Indigenous peoples. Items of cultural or religious value created by Indigenous .peoples were not intended to be placed in museum collections. The removal of cultural materials to museum archives severs the living connection and contact a people has with its works and past. This is especially tme of cultures with an oral rather than written tradition. Museums and cultural scientists must strive to maintain the vigor of the cui· ture that created the objects they seek to study. All too frequently archeologists and anthropologists consider the dead to be objects of curiosity and study: "a storehouse of biological information" as anthropologist johan Reinhard says. referring to the frozen bod)' of an Inca girl that he exhumed in Peru (see accompanying story). For Indigenous peoples, however, the dead are not scientific objects. thC)' are their ancestors. perhaps even their family. AncestOrs were interred with careful attention to respect and ritual that will see them to their proper destin)' after death. These efforts are disturbed by archeologists, grave robbers, scientists and other col· lectors who continue to violate burial sites and the remains therein. Restitution and legal Recognit ion Standards for the protection of and respect for the cultural property of Indigenous peoples are greater today than ever before. Major museums and even some governments are cooperat· ing whh l ndigenous nations to volun· tarily repatriate obj ects to their cultures of origin. The United Nations and the United States are beginning to legally recognize the claims of Indigenous peoples to their cultural property. Unfortunately, individual governments and police forces are doing lillie if anything to cooperate with the Unhed Not Dead Yet: An lncan Mummy Find Rekindles the Fire Over Science and Ethics wo men enter an Inca ceremonial burial site. They spot some feathers: the headdress of a small statue. The men scramble down a ledge. There they find a carefully prepared grave. Taking out their axes they begin hacking awtrf. Soon they uncover the body of a young woman. A little more ax work and they completely exhume the body. One man stuffs it in a sack and the other removes the remaining funerary arti· facts. They depart into the darkening sky. Returning later with more accomplices. the two men scour the area for any remaining items. including two more corpses. Another sacred burial site has been picked clean and the bodies removed from their graves. The two men. American archeologist Johan Reinhard and his Peruvian partner Miguel Zarate. found the grave·site last September atop Nevado Ampato in the Andean Cordillera of modem·day Peru. The bodies were originally buried on top of the remote 20. 700·foot mountain as part of a religious ceremony and remained there. frozen. for an estimated 500 years until Reinhard and Zarate arrived. Since then. the body of the young Inca woman was brought to a laboratory at Catholic University in Arequipa. stuck into an ice box and stripped of her clothing including a beautiful wool Alpaca dress. Scientists then conducted a battery of tests. took body tissue and fluid for tests. and then shipped her off to Washington D.C. to be put on display as an item of curiosity at the offices of the National Geographic Society. National Geographis 's display of the Inca woman's body and the archeologists' treatment of the burial site in general has drawn international criticism. ..The dis- T 14 play of mummies or any human remains stands in con· tradiction to the ethics regarding the handling of the dead.· said Dr. Konrad Spindler. a prehistory specialist at the University of lnnsbruck and leader of the research team studying the 5300·year-old .. Iceman .. frozen corpse found in an Alpine glacier in Europe in I 99 I . Although Spindler was invited to join the research team studying the lncan woman . he eventual· ly left the project because of his displeasure over the treatment of the corpse. Yachay Wasi. a non·profit organization dedicated to sharing and supporting indigenous culture of Peru. is sponsoring a petition in protest of National Geographic's handling of the situa· tion. Indigenous people in the United States and Canada are joining Yachay Wasi in protest. Although circumstances surrounding the decision to bring the Inca body to Washington remain unclear. National Geographic has made an admirable effort to consult the Indigenous people who are descendants of the Tawatinsuyu. or lncan empire. According to National Geographic spokeswoman Barbara Moffet. the second team of archeologists sent to excavate the Ampato burial site first paid a visit to the nearby village of Cabanaconde. No formal agreement was obtained by National Geographic. but Moffet claims that the villagers. who are believed to be the most closely related descendants of the Inca. were not only consulted. but eight villagers also volunteered to take part in the expedition. National Geographic has also made small a donation of photos and money to the village for the establishment of a museum in Cabanaconde. When the body of the Inca woman was brought to the National Abya Y News ala �CONFRON TI NG CULT U RA L EXTINCTION Nations. In addition, the US legislation is not applicable nor respected outside US borders. effon and can eliminate the need for legal baulcs. The legitimacy and coordination of the repa~riation effon arc also lions. charitable groups. Jlnd other Should an lndigenous nation wish to repatriate items removed from their innuemial. Any documentation or testimony that can assist in proving the may provide contacts. publicity, coun- community, they race a difficult but increasingly possible task. First the seriousness and costs of the effon n1ust be considered. An}' individual or institution thai has gone through great expense and effort to acquire and maintain valuable cultural items will not be eager 10 give them up. Securing the goodwill and cooperation of the pany current!)• in possession of the ite1ns in question is crucial to any repatriation Indigenous entities may be sy1npathctic to repatriation efforts. These groups cil, or other forms of assistance. Some claimams position will be very helpful. communities have been successfully Also the par1y making a claim for any pursuing repatriation for many yea.rs items should consider what measures and have developed mechanisms withwill be taken 10 insure the pr01ection of in their political system 10 respond to the items once regained: no one is like- concerns in"olving culturally sensitive ly 10 pan with rare ani facts if they sus- materials. journalists may be able to pect that they will be sold, stolen. or provide publicity and help bring public mishandled in any way. opinion behind the repatriation efforts. Many resources exist to aid Some govemments (most notably the Indigenous peoples' repatriation cam- United States) and the United Nations paigns. Non-governmental organiza- may also be of assistance. Geographic headquarters for display. former residents the National Geographic Society is aware of NAGPRA of Cabanaconde now living in Washington D.C. were in and the spirit in which it was drafted and chose to attendance. There was no charge to see the Inca exhibit. ignore it by not only funding the second expedition. but Despite National Geographic's overtures to the liv- also bringing the frozen body to Washington D.C . to be ing descendants in Cabanaconde. this case has raised put on public display. The display of the Inca woman also violated the spircriticism of the ethics of archeology. Does the curiosity of scientists justify the disturbance of graves? On what it of the United Nations. The U.N. Commission on authority do universities or other institutions take pos- Human Rights drafted a resolution entitled The session of the human remains of another society? Protection of the Heritage of Indigenous People which Among many national societies. such as the United states that · under no circumstances should objects or States and Peru. and especially among academics. any other elements of an indigenous peoples· heritage such as Reinhard. there is a double standard for the be publicly displayed. except in a manner deemed treatment of the dead. The legal and moral codes nor- appropriate by the peoples concerned" <Article 23>. mally relating to the handling of human remains and " Human remains and associated funeral objects must graves are ignored for Indigenous people. Although we be returned to their descendants and territories in a culare aware of no formal protests raised by Indigenous turally appropriate manner. as determined by the indigepeoples in Peru. many Native Americans feel the dead nous peoples concerned " <Article 21>. and should not be disturbed. studied or displayed at all. · Researchers and scholarly institutions should ...obtain Native American groups in North America have been formal agreements with the traditional owners for the fighting for protection of their ancestral burial sites and shared custody. use and interpretation of their herreburial of remains held by archeologists. Walter Echo- itage· <Article 33>. Hawk. who was a lawyer for the Native American The Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Rights Fund when Congress was considering NAG· Peoples. pending approval by the U.N. General PRA. says "If you desecrate a white grave. you wind up Assembly. also specifies the protection of burial sites. sitting in prison. but desecrate an Indian grave and you <Articles 12 and t 3. see attached article> It should not get a Ph.D .... and a fat check from National Geographic require a United Nations declaration to instill basic conit seems. The Washington D.C. based non-profit orga- sideration for the spirituality of a people. whether they nization supplied a grant of $100.000. mainly to fund be the ancient Inca or living descendants. " With this the second expedition. discovery. the spirit of Mount Ampato is challenging sciHad Reinhard and Zarate done what they did in the entists" says Eliane Lacroix-Hopson of Yachay Wasi: United States they would likely have been indicted for that despite legal limitations ... all involved should know grave-robbing under the provisions of The Native they are morally responsible in front of the Creator. American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act Indigenous Peoples and their friends.· <NAGPRA>. Public Law t Ot -60Hsee section I 04 Hopefully during all the lesling. prodding. studying STAT.305t C> Fortunately for the anthropologist NAG- and analysis the scientists may actually learn something . PRA only applies within U.S . borders. Nevertheless. from the Incas: that they show respect for the dead. Vol. 10 No. 2 15 �C O N F RONTING C UL TURAL The United Nations The United Nations is taking an increased interest in cultural heritage and in the prote<:li~n of Indigenous rights. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has taken up the issue of the protection and restitution of cuhur· al property. For this purpose UNESCO established the Intergovernmental Comminee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation (henceforth, just the Committee) which currently num- EXTINCT I ON NAGPRA: US Takes legislative Action for Repatriation In November 1990 the US Congress enacted Public Law 101-601, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. also known as NAGPRA. This law provides a legal infrastructure to aid in the protection and restitution or funerary remains~ and associated items of cultural patrimony. NAGPRA outlaws the traffic in such items. mandating a ma."<imum of five years in prison and/or a nne for "Whoever knowingly sells. purchases, uses for profit. or transports for sale or bers twenty-two member states of profit, the human remains of a Native UNESCO. h will hold its nimh session in Paris from September I 6-19. The eighth session was auended by sixty- American.. or "Native American cultur· al items"[ll70 (a)(b)) . NAGPRA also requires museums and other institu- nine nations, international customs tions receiving federal funding to sup- and legal bodies, the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), and the International Council of ply inventories of their items and return Museums. Several important ideas were laid down including the rights of a people to expect legal protection of cultural property and secure aid in its return. The International Council of Museums has voluntarily agreed not to admil items into museum collections that are not proven 10 be legitimately acquired and 10 inform authorities if approached with illicit material. So far the Commiuee has not discussed any cases concerning Indigenous peoples. The United Nations Economic and Social Council's Commission on Human Rights adopted a declaration at its eleventh session providing for the protection of the rights of Indigenous peoples including. "the right 10 the restitution of cultural, intellectual, religious and spiritual property taken wlthom their free and informed con- sent or in violation of their laws, traditions and customs." (Article 12). More recently. in june of 1995 the Economic and Social Council drafted the report entitled Protection of the heritage of Indigenous people. Although the repon lacks any real legal power. it helps to lend legitimacy 10 individual claims. 16 the items upon the request of a tribal authority. Thirty-four states have passed additional laws 10 fill gaps in the NAGPRA legislation. Although NAGPRA only applies 10 federally funded institutions within the United States, it has set a precedent with many museum authorities on an Zuni believe that when Spanish and US agents stole the communally owned figures from their designated resting places, it caused the spiritual imbalance that the world is suffering in this century. The return of the figures lO their shrines is necessary to reswre harmon)' and protect the Zuni communi!)< Anthropologist T.J. Ferguson, a member of the Ahayu:da repatriation effort, warns... It is extremely important that both tribes and museums recognize that the amount of time and money required 10 assemble information and reach an agreement can be substamial. • This was the case for the Zuni people, for whom the saga of the Altayu:da lasted nearly a centur)< The first objects were removed to the Smithsonian in 1897. In April of !978. Zuni leaders began repatriation effons by meeting for the first time with repre- The return of the figures to their shrines is necessary to restore harmony and protect the Zuni community. international level. Museum institutions in the US have also repatriated items to Indigenous communities in South America outside NAGPRAS jurisdiction. One notable case was the return of several rza11rtas (head trophies) from the Smithsonian Institute 10 the Shuar peoples in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Austrian president, Thoma! Klestil, returned the mantle of Montezuma 10 Mexico. The beautiful mantle of feathers and gold had been out of Mexico for over 400 years. The Return of the Ahoyu:do An early and important repatriation effort in North America was the struggle of the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico 10 return the sacred Ahayu:da figures 10 their traditional resting places in tribal shrines. Figures representing the t"1n war gods, Uyuycmi and Maia~cwi are placed in shrines to harness their potentially destructive powers. The sentatives from the Denver An Museum. By 1992 the Zuni secured the return of 69 Altayu:da from 37 different sources. representing all known US copies. Most of the effons of the Zuni to repatriate the Ahayu:da were accomplished without any legal backing from NAGPRA, which was not passed until November of 1990. The struggle of the Zuni to mount their repatriation cam- paign was intense, but in the end they prevailed. Their success is due mainly 10 dedication and cooperation. The museums were not, at that time. required by law 10 cooperate with the Zuni requests, nor did the Zuni representatives seck a legal confrontation. Instead, the Zuni approached the maller by presenting a solid case to museum officials and embarking on a series of friendly negotiations. Cooperation and respect kept the negotiations from becoming adversarial. Although the museums stood to Abya Yala News �CONFRONTING lose valuable portions of their collections. they respected the sincerity and legitimacy of the Zuni appeals. One of the concerns the Smithsonian raised before agreeing tO return cultural artifacts 'vas the security of the figures. The Zuni developed elaborate measures. including surveillance of the shrines. to protect the Ahayt.:da from repeated theft. "Indian tribes requesting repatriation of human remains and artifacts should be ready. as the Zunis were, to address questions from museums about the security of artifacts after repatriation: says Ferguson. Repatriation appeals can even begin a friendly cooperation between muse- ums and Indigenous peoples. The Zuni provided valuable information to the museums regarding the nature and significance of items in the museum col- leclion and the museum provided a secure record of cullllral artifacts and histOry that they shared with the Zuni Pueblo. Zuni artists and ceramics stu· dems benefited from studying pottery in the Smithsonian collection . Zuni reli- gious leaders also guided the museums' curators in appropriate handling procedures for those sacred objects that remain in museum collections. "'The power and continuity of Zuni culture and religion have been reinforced by the return of the Ahayu:da to their shrine on the Zuni Indian Reservation, and that is good: says curator of ethnology and Zuni anthropologist. Edmund Ladd. The Sacred Weavings of Coroma For the Aymara people of Coroma in the southern Altiplano of Bolivia. the sacred garments of Coroma are communal artifacts that illustrate genealogies and are believed to embody the souls of their ancestors. Some garmems art 400 to 500 years old. In early 1988, Professor John Murra, a well·known ethnohistorian rrom Cornell University. received a postcard announcing an ethnic an exhibition in San Francisco that reatured the sacred weavings of Coroma. Vol. 10 No.2 CULT U RAL He recognized the weavings as those that had been stolen or bought illegally rrom the Aymara community in the late 1970s and 80s. He contacted the Bolivian embassy and social scientist Cristina 6ubba Zamora who was inventOrying the Coroma weavings at the time through HISBOL (a Bolivian grassroots development organization). Concerned community elders emphasized the importance of the weavings and considered the discovery of the art dealer~ collection as a sign of their ancestorS spirits wishing to return home. "When a sacred gannent is taken from the community, a Coromei\o believes that the spirits of the ancestors have been kidnaped: explains Susan Lobo, one of the advocates of the Coroma repatriation efforts. The Boli,;an embassy and two reprt· sentatives from Coroma comactcd United States authorities and in February of 1988 US Customs officials confiscated about 1000 objects (mOstly weavings) from the dealer. Delegates from Coroma then went to California to identify the collection confiscated by US Customs. ..Our ancestors must be so sad and lone· ly: oommemed one of the delegates viewing the weavings Native Americans in the US and academics joined Cristina Bubba Zamora in rallying support for the people of Coroma. A San Francisco law finn also aided the ooalition. With the backing of the UNESCO convention. signed by both the US and Bolivia. the return of Conynine of the weavings was secured. 1n September 1992, Bolivian President Zamora received the weavings from the US government on behalf of the people ofCoroma. The extreme difficulty and expense in tracing, identifying and proving that the weavings were purchased illegally 'vas a major obstacle in this case. Many items could not be detennined to be illicitly obtained and had to be returned to the dealer. The return of the weavings attracted renewed interest and respect for the ancestral religion among many younger Corome1\os who had previously shown less interest it\ traditional culture. EXTINCT I ON The success of the Zuni and Aymara in recovering sacred artifacts from museums and unscrupulouS collectOrs is an important step in the prevention of the extinction of Indigenous peoples' living culture. Currently. the UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is slowly taking shape. Now is the time for Indigenous peoples' to par· ticipatc in this document and work on the issue of repatria<ion rights. Perhaps most importantly, everyone can help by being vigilant for the appearance of sacred items in the ethnic an markeL 't' Thanhs to the followblg individuals who volunteered their time <md expertise to the n:s«>rch of <his al'ricle: Lynde! V. Prou, UNESCO ()'aris); Marie Samuet Yachay \Vasi, Inc.; Pollyarma Nordscr-<md, American Indian Ritual Objul Repatriation Found<llion. References Feest. Christian F. 1995 "REPATRIA· TION": A European View on the Question of Restitution of Nalive American Artifacts. European Review of Native American Studies. 9:2 pp33·42 . F owler. Brenda. Sunday, June 16, 1996. Should Just Anyone Be Allowed to Stare? The New York Times. Lacroix-Hopson, Eliane. The Inca Challenge. Winter 1995196. Yachay Wasip 'Simin' (Vol.ll No.3) Lobo, Susan. Summer 1991. The Fabric of Life. Repatriating the Sacred Coroma Textiles. Cultural Survival. Vol. 15. Merrill, William L.; Ladd, Edmund J.; Ferguson, T.J. 1993. The Return of the Ahayu:da: Lessons for Repatriation from Zuni Pueblo and the Smithsonian Institute. Cuffent Anthropology Chicago v.34 no 5, pp.523-567. Metz, Holly. April 1993. Remains to be seen: Relic repatriation fuels Native American activists. Student Lawyer. Vol. 21 No.8. Moffet, Barbara. National Geographic. Public Affairs Spokeswoman. (Phone lnteNiew July 16, 1996). R einhard, Johan. June 1996. Peru's Ice Maidens. Nationcl Geographic. pp62-81. 17 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 2 (Summer 1996) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Reversing the Flow of Traffic in the Market of Cultural Property Type The nature or genre of the resource Journal Article Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Eric Bergman Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1996 Language A language of the resource English English Zotero Title Reversing the Flow of Traffic in the Market of Cultural Property Item Type Journal Article Author Eric Bergman Volume 10 Issue 2 Pages 13-17 Publication Title Abya Yala News: Journal of the South and Meso American Indian Rights Center (SAIIC) ISSN 1071-3182 Date Summer 1996 Language English Abstract Note Indigenous nations have been conquered and exploited, thus their cultural icons being dispersed to countries all over the world. This article details the efforts of indigenous nations and the United Nations to return these cultural items to their rightful place. Attachment Title Reversing_the_Flow_of_Traffic_in_the_Market_of_Cultural_Property.pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Cultural Identity Cultural Property Indigenous Peoples UNESCO United Nations