Utimut: Past Heritage – Future Partnerships
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IWGIA UTIMUT UTIMUT PAST HERITAGE - FUTURE PARTNERSHIPS PAST HERITAGE - FUTURE PARTNERSHIPS Discussions on Repatriation UTIMUT in the 21st Century More than ever before, ethnic groups, peoples and nations are fighting to regain control of their lost cultural heritage and ancestral GREENLAND NATIONAL human remains and this raises questions as MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES to the Western museums’ ownership of their MILLE GABRIEL foreign collections. NUnatta KaterSUGAASIVIA This book, however, identifies a need to PAST HERITAGE - FUTURE PARTNERSHIPS HERITAGE PAST Archaeologist and PhD ALLagaateQARFIALU move beyond discussions of ownership, power and control in favour of exploring new kinds of Candidate in Anthropology partnerships between museums and the with expertise in the repatriation Established in 1966 as the peoples or countries of origin, partnerships of cultural property to indigenous first museum in Greenland, based on equitability and reconciliation. The peoples. Research Associate, since the introduction of the authors explore a wide variety of different SILA - the Greenland Research Greenlandic Home Rule in cooperative approaches such as knowledge Centre at the National Museum 1979 it has been the National sharing, capacity building, and physical as of Denmark. Museum of Greenland. well as virtual repatriation. The Greenland National In 2007 she assisted the Museum and Archives is Greenland National Museum located in Nuuk and holds THE Greenland National & Archives to organize a collections relating to the MUSEUM & ARCHIVES Conference on Repatriation entire 4500 years of human Nunatta KatersugaasiVIA habitation in Greenland. AllagaateQarfialu of Cultural Heritage, from which the content of this book derives. INTERNATIONAL IWGIA - INTERNATIONAL WORK WORK GROUP FOR JENS DAHL GROUP FOR INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS IWGIA is a non-profit, politically Anthropologist. Adjunct Professor, independent, international Department of Cross-Cultural and organisation. The aim of IWGIA is to support indigenous peoples Regional Studies, Centre for worldwide in their struggle for Comparative Cultural Studies, self-determination. IWGIA’s University of Copenhagen. activities focus on human rights Former Director of IWGIA. work and project activities in co-operation with indigenous organisations and communities. Edited by Mille Gabriel and Jens Dahl - IWGIA/NKA UTIMUT Past Heritage – Future Partnerships Discussions on Repatriation in the 21st Century Mille Gabriel & Jens Dahl (eds) Copenhagen 2008 – Document No. 122 UTIMUT Past Heritage - Future Partnerships - Discussions on Repatriation in the 21st Century Editors: Mille Gabriel & Jens Dahl Copyright: The authors, IWGIA (International Work Group for Indig- enous Affairs) and the Greenland National Museum & Archives 2007 – All Rights Reserved Cover and layout: Jorge Monrás Cover photos: IWGIA; Greenland National Museum & Archives; Ja- kub Christensen Medonos; Nikolay Dimitrov; Vera Bogaerts; Mikhail Nekrasov; Miranda Gillespie; Sean Nel; Bill Philpot Proofreading: Elaine Bolton Prepress and Print: Eks-Skolens Trykkeri, Copenhagen, Denmark ISBN: 97-88791563454 ISSN: 0105-4503 This book has been produced with financial support from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Greenland National Museum & Archives THE GREENLAND National MUSEUM & ARCHIVES Nunatta KatersugaasiVIA AllagaateQARFIALU INTERNATIONAL WORK GROUP FOR INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS Classensgade 11 E, DK 2100 - Copenhagen, Denmark Tel: (45) 35 27 05 00 - Fax: (45) 35 27 05 07 E-mail: [email protected] - Web: www.iwgia.org CONTENTS Preface Daniel Thorleifsen .............................................................................................. 8 Introduction: From Conflict to Partnership Mille Gabriel .................................................................................................... 12 Repatriation in the Service of Society and its Development Jack Lohman ..................................................................................................... 22 “Universal Museums”: New Contestations, new Controversies George O. Abungu ........................................................................................... 32 Thinking about the Right Home – Repatriation and the University of Aberdeen Neil G.W. Curtis .............................................................................................. 44 Righting Wrongs? Three Rationales of Repatriation and What Anthropology might have to say About Them Martin Skrydstrup ........................................................................................... 56 Indigenous Heritage and Repatriation – a Stimulus for Cultural Renewal Moira G. Simpson ............................................................................................ 64 Sharing the Hunt: Repatriation as a Human Right Aqqaluk Lynge ................................................................................................. 78 Caught in the Middle - An Archaeological Perspective on Repatriation and Reburial Liv Nilsson Stutz ............................................................................................. 84 Who’s Right and What’s Left on the Middle Ground? Repatriation as Political Action Joe Watkins .................................................................................................... 100 Repatriation, Cultural Revitalization and Indigenous Healing in Alaska Gordon L. Pullar ............................................................................................ 108 Revisiting the Parthenon – National Heritage in a Global Age Nicoletta Divari-Valakou ...............................................................................116 “Repatriation”, “Restitution” and “Return” of “Cultural Property”: International Law and Practice Guido Carducci ............................................................................................. 122 Considering Repatriation Legislation as an Option: The National Museum of the American Indian Act (NMAIA) & The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) C. Timothy McKeown .................................................................................... 134 Notes for Remarks Thomas V. Hill ............................................................................................... 148 That was then this is now – Canadian Law and Policy on First Nations Material Culture Catherine E. Bell ............................................................................................ 154 Relations in Times of Global Exchange – The Challenges of Repatriation and the Intangible Cultural Heritage Inger Sjørslev ................................................................................................. 168 Utimut: Repatriation and Collaboration Between Denmark and Greenland Bjarne Grønnow & Einar Lund Jensen ......................................................... 180 Repatriation as Knowledge Sharing – Returning the Sámi Cultural Heritage Eeva-Kristiina Harlin .................................................................................... 192 The Journey Home: A Case Study in Proactive Repatriation Susan Rowley & Kristin Hausler .................................................................. 202 Contributors .............................................................................................................. 214 8 UTIMUT - PAST HERITAGE - FUTURE PARTNERSHIPS PREFACE Daniel Thorleifsen ver the last decades, repatriation has been of great concern to many newly independent states, indigenous peoples and others having lost essential parts of Otheir cultural heritage as a consequence of colonialism or other kinds of occupa- tion. This often results in ownership disputes and conflicts between the present owner of the material, be it a state, museum or private institution, and the appli- cant, who claims it by virtue of being the culture of origin. Greenland has for 20 years been engaged in a very constructive partnership with its former colonial power, Denmark, resulting in the return of 35,000 items of cultural heritage – a process later identified as Utimut. Based on these positive experiences, the Green- land National Museum & Archives hosted an international conference on repa- triation of cultural heritage from February 12-14, 2007 in Nuuk, Greenland, ad- dressing all parties involved in repatriation; researchers and museum curators, representatives of Western governments, Third and Fourth World populations, UN agencies and other inter- and non-governmental organizations. Repatriation is a complex phenomenon that touches upon a wide variety of legal, ethical and museological issues, which the conference sought to encompass in 4 main ses- sions: 1) Whose property / whose heritage? - the legal status of cultural heritage, 2) Does cultural heritage matter? - the politics of repatriation, 3) Ethical consid- erations – repatriation as a ritual of redemption and 4) Preservation or reuse? - repatriation as a challenge to museums. The aim of the conference was to facili- tate not only an international but also a cross-disciplinary dialogue aimed at cre- ating understanding and mutual respect between the parties involved in repa- triation in order to work out perspectives for future collaboration. My own cultural background (being a Greenlandic Inuit and a member of the world community) has taught me that you cannot achieve a peaceful world with- out respect for other cultures. Tensions and conflicts between different cultures are usually based on the way we perceive those