Unsettling Archaeology: Indigenous Archaeology with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon

Date: 

Thursday, February 18, 2021, 12:00pm

Location: 

Virtual Zoom Event

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n the language of self-determination, Indigenous archaeologies are expressions of the sovereignty of tribal nations to determine how tribal heritage will be cared for, now and into the future. U.S. Tribal Nations, however, encounter several challenges in articulating sovereignty-based approaches to archaeology and historic preservation. These include a lack of funding and, most significant, the difficulty of operating within a legal framework for heritage protection that was not designed to include the specific needs or interests of tribal nations. How then can an Indigenous nation make archaeology work for and in accordance with tribal needs and values? Using the case study of Field Methods in Indigenous Archaeology (FMIA), Sara Gonzales evaluates how community-based research with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon contributes to a uniquely Grand Ronde way for practicing archaeology. Preliminary outcomes from the project and its field school suggest that Indigenizing archaeology not only transforms our discipline’s relationship with and to Indigenous communities, but also refashions those our discipline, enhancing our collective capacity to care for and protect tribal heritage for future generations.

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Dr. Sara L. Gonzalez is an Associate professor of Anthropology and Adjunct Professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington where she is also a Curator of Archaeology the Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture. An anthropological archaeologist by training, she works at the intersection of Indigenous studies, tribal historic preservation, and public history. Her research contributes to the growing field of Indigenous and community-based archaeologies, which feature the direct engagement of Indigenous peoples in archaeology and are committed to the integration of Indigenous knowledge and methods into archaeological practice. She is currently director of two community-based participatory research partnerships: the Kashaya Pomo Interpretive Trail Project and Field Methods in Indigenous Archaeology established with the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians and Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon, respectively. In both of these partnerships, collaborative thinking with the Kashia and Grand Ronde Historic Preservation Offices resulted in nation-specific, low-impact archaeological approaches that enhance the capacity of US Tribal Nations and archaeology to care for, protect, and represent tribal heritage for future generations. As part of this work, she has directed a number of community-based archaeological field schools, including the Field Methods in Indigenous Archaeology training program, which has trained over 40 graduate and undergraduate students in how to do archaeology with and for the Grand Ronde nation. In addition to this work, Dr. Gonzalez has recently co-founded the Indigenous Archaeology Collective, a network of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars within archaeology and related fields and is a founding board member of the Black Trowel Collective Microgrants, which provides funding for archaeology students from working-class & historically looted communities. 

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