Since the 1960s Indigenous groups, particularly in North America and Oceania, have organized and/or intensified struggles of resistance against archaeological excavations, which had systematically deprived them of access to their material culture, of the right to care for the human remains of their ancestors according to their traditions of choice, and of self-determination regarding the interpretation and transmission of their culture.
NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) was passed in the US in 1990 as a result of these struggles, setting in motion a still ongoing process of restitution of objects and human remains held in federal institutions, which were and are being returned to source communities and descendant groups. In the case of human remains of peoples with no identified living descendants or whose origin is unknown, alliances between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, such as the Return to the Earth project, have made efforts to ensure the reburial of human remains held at museums or scientific archives, in intercultural ceremonies which aim to restore their dignity.
In Europe, several archaeological and ethnographic collections include objects and human remains from Indigenous communities that were acquired in colonial or imperial contexts. Over the past years, some European museums have striven to deal with this problematic heritage. Among decolonization efforts are the repatriation of objects and human remains; consultation and collaboration with source communities; hiring of museum specialists whose methodological approach questions unilateral Western scientific theories, including specialists from communities who suffered losses as a result of archaeological and ethnographic research; the creation of programs of academic and artistic research for the reinterpretation of collections; and the reformulation of museum texts in order to include from the start an in-depth reflection about the relationship between the scientific and museum apparatuses and colonialism and its effects on society today.
Written in the plural, the expression Indigenous archaeologies designates a multiplicity of non-colonial research methods used by Indigenous and non-Indigenous archaeologists to produce knowledge based on an ethical commitment to living Indigenous communities. These practices share a recognition that cultural objects are not a resource that can be exploited independently of the wishes of their producers (regardless of whether or not they are deceased), which may mean that some objects are not eligible to be extracted from their contexts or revealed to people from outside the communities.
On the one hand, those who practice Indigenous archaeologies have contributed to the retrieval of traditional knowledge systems that were lost and work in close collaboration with the guardians of knowledge in communities in order to preserve oral traditions. On the other hand, a significant part of their effort has been dedicated to the task of critiquing and deconstructing Western archaeology practices in academic and institutional contexts, in leading cases for the repatriation of Indigenous cultural heritage and in the creation of more complex representations of Indigenous cultures in Western institutions.
Although the right of Indigenous peoples to the lands where they traditionally live are recognized by the Constitutions of many countries, in many cases States overtly disregard this right by licensing massive oil, gas and mining ventures, or intensive farming and livestock enterprises. Right now, the Guarani-Kaiowá in Mato Grosso do Sul (Brazil) are being assaulted by violent groups sent by farmers, as a reaction to their peaceful reoccupation of land. This struggle is shared by many Indigenous communities worldwide, which are systematically deprived of the lands that play a vital role in the constitution and survival of their cultures.
Companies oftentimes benefit from colonial history in order to claim their right to exploit the land, by presenting maps and documents where the existence of Indigenous peoples has been omitted. It is common to hear that “there aren’t and never were Indians” living in the regions occupied by extractive companies. Therefore, the struggle of Indigenous peoples is a struggle for visibility, for the recognition of their political rights and for the remediation of the historical process of invisibilization that is still ongoing, resulting in the discrimination and violent persecution of Indigenous communities.