Intensive NAGPRA Summer Training and Education Program
This pilot project serves as a training program focused on best practices related to Ancestral human remains under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Training in and around the subject of NAGPRA is notoriously lacking in most academic anthropology programs and even tribal communities, highlighting the need for long-term availability of such training. The one-week, intensive program will also focus on areas of ethical concern surrounding research, teaching, curation, and other aspects of working with tribal nations and their Ancestors. Training areas will include, but are not limited to: strategies for NAGPRA documentation in the laboratory/curation space; understanding cultural affiliation to contemporary tribal communities; cultural sensitivity protocols; working with tribal governments; the effects of anthropological collecting and intergenerational trauma; and collaborative research practices. Training sessions will involve learning from Native and non-Native NAGPRA practitioners, tribal scholars and Elders, research partners, and others as appropriate. The major goal of the project is to develop accessible, consistently-available training for anthropologists and NAGPRA practitioners.
Program will run July 10-14, 2023. Eight participants will be fully funded for their travel and stay in Bloomington for the duration of the program. Additional participants will be considered if they are able to fund their own participation.
Contact information:
The 2023 INSTEP Program is open to undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty, as well as to tribal practitioners and employees. We prioritize applications from Indigenous community members, Elders, and tribal leaders.
- Summary of Applicant’s Background. This should include education or experiences that relate to the program. (200-300 words max)
- Statement of Interest (500 words max)
After completion of the workshop, participants must submit an evaluation of the INSTEP program. These evaluations provide organizers valuable feedback to modify and improve future workshops.
Applications open November 16th and close on March 3rd at 11:59PM Eastern Standard. Applicants will be contacted by the end of March.
Rebecca Hawkins
Rebecca Hawkins is the Consulting Archaeologist for the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and a member of the Tribe's NAGPRA Committee. She co-owns Algonquin Consultants, an American Indian-owned firm specializing in cultural resources management. She lives in Oklahoma and manages Algonquin's Plains and Southwest region offices. Hawkins has worked throughout the US as an archaeologist since 1980 and received the MA in Anthropology from the University of Cincinnati in 1987. Since the early 1990s, she has worked with over three dozen tribes and tribal organizations nationwide on NAGPRA, National Historic Preservation Act, Traditional Cultural Properties, and related issues.
Carlton Shield Chief Gover
Dr. Carlton Shield Chief Gover is a tribal citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. At Indiana University, he serves as the Curator of Public Archaeology for the Indiana University Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology and as an Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology. Carlton's archaeology work focuses on ancestral Pawnee and Arikara ancestry in the Great Plains and collaborative approaches with neighboring Great Plains Indigneous Nations.
Jenny L. Davis
Jenny L. Davis (Chickasaw Nation) is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and American Indian Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign where she is the director of the American Indian Studies Program and co-director of the Center for Indigenous Science. In her administrative and service roles, she has worked to develop initiatives, including creating a campus-wide NAGPRA office, a university Tribal Liaison position, and Indigenous community-based projects across campus including the repatriation of Indigenous collections (archaeological, ethnographic, and archival) in the United States and international contexts.
The INSTEP pilot program (projected for July 2023) is funded by a Wenner-Gren Foundation Global Initiatives Grant. These grants “help support innovative projects that benefit the discipline as a whole by creating the conditions for anthropologists to do better work. In 2022, [Wenner-Gren] is particularly interested in supporting initiatives focusing on the ethical treatment of human remains.”