Accessing Archaeology: A Conversation on Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage

This 90-minute panel discussion will highlight the importance of recognizing and including Indigenous traditional knowledge and perspectives as five Native American archaeologists share their experiences and challenges in a field created by colonizers.

Accessing Archaeology: A Conversation on Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage

Archaeology lets us explore what it means to be human, but the field is shaped by those who participate in it and the knowledge systems they prioritize. This 90-minute panel discussion will highlight the importance of recognizing and including Indigenous traditional knowledge and perspectives as five Native American archaeologists share their experiences and challenges in a field created by colonizers.

4:00-5:30 p.m. Washington, DC; 1:00 p.m. Los Angeles; 5:00 a.m. Tokyo; 9:00 p.m. London

This program will be presented as a Zoom video webinar. A link will be emailed to all registrants. 

This program is presented by the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Live captioning and ASL interpretation will be provided. For any questions or concerns about accessibility for this online panel, please contact Chris Stantis (StantisC@si.edu).

Moderator:

Dorothy Lippert (Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History)

Dorothy Lippert is Choctaw and an archaeologist. She received her B.A. from Rice University and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Dorothy served as the Education Coordinator for the John P. McGovern Hall of the Americas at the Houston Museum of Natural Science and has worked in the repatriation program of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, since 2001. She responds to repatriation requests from US tribes for human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony according to the provisions of the National Museum of the American Indian Act. 

She is a past member of the Society for American Archaeology’s Board of Directors. In 2011, she was appointed by President Obama to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, where she serves as an expert member. 

Lippert has published articles in journals such as American Antiquity, American Indian Quarterly, the International Journal of Cultural Property and Archaeologies as well as chapters in numerous books. She has been an invited lecturer at numerous universities and museums worldwide. Her research interests include the development of Indigenous archaeology, repatriation, ethics and the archaeology and bioarchaeology of the Southeastern United States.

Featured Speakers:

Desireé Reneé Martinez (Cogstone Resource Management, Pimu Catalina Island Archaeology Project)

Desireé Reneé Martinez is a Gabrielino (Tongva) community member and President of Cogstone Resource Management. She is also a Co-Director of the Pimu Catalina Island Archaeology Project, a native-centered research project that melds archaeology with traditional knowledge in collaboration with the Gabrielino (Tongva) community members. She received her MA in Anthropology from Harvard University and BA in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Peter Nelson (UC Berkeley)

Peter Nelson (Coast Miwok and tribal citizen of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria) is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley. Dr. Nelson received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from UC Berkeley. Dr. Nelson works at the intersection of anthropological archaeology, Indigenous environmental studies, and Native American Studies in collaboration with Tribal nations and Indigenous peoples in California and abroad. His research addresses cultural heritage preservation, settler colonialism, climate change, and Indigenous stewardship and land management. Dr. Nelson also volunteers on prescribed burning projects and wildland firefighting efforts in the North Bay Area where he lives.

Anastasia Walhovd (Makoons Consulting) 

Anastasia Walhovd (She/Her) (Anishinaabe - Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe) has been working in cultural resource management since 2018 and runs a single member archaeological firm, Makoons Consulting. In 2020, she founded the Tribal Archaeology Network--an email listserv and online community for Indigenous archaeological professionals. She earned her bachelor's degree from Harvard College, and she is currently a master's student in the Anthropology department at New Mexico State University.

Joe Watkins (Archaeological and Cultural Education Consultants, LLC)

Joe Watkins, a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, is a Senior Consultant with Archaeological and Cultural Education (Ace) Consultants, LLC, in Tucson, Arizona. He has been practicing archaeology for more than 50 years and is internationally known for his publications on increasing the ethical practice of anthropology and the study of its relationships with descendant communities and populations including American Indians, Australian Aboriginals, New Zealand Māori, and the Japanese Ainu. He was President of the Society for American Archaeology from 2019-2021.

• Cost
• Free
• Location
  
• Online; Internet connection required
• Signup URL: https://eventactions.com/eareg.aspx?ea=Rsvp&invite=0zjpmvsm1gc4xgxwt7g4egbyutrw8z6hwbd12p8cacgsunbvh3ps
• Accessibility
• ASL-interpreted program, Captioning
• Sponsor
• Natural History Museum
• Topics
  
• Science & Nature