Long Road

Not so long a go I posted a story about the Smithsonian repatriating some human remains back to an Aboriginal community in Arnhem Land. I wondered aloud (or in tye, I suppose) why this wasn’t bigger news on the Smithsonian side–why, I wondered, weren’t they tooting their own horn. In the comments to my query Kozimer wrote:

I can tell you why there is no information coming out of the Smithsonian on this matter. The remains were taken under the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land (AASEAL) in 1948. The Smithsonian was required to return these remains due to an agreement developed between those who took the remains and the Smithsonian. The agreement also allowed the Smithsonian to retain a 1/3 of the remains, which they have done. The Smithsonian want the repatriation that is not a repatriation to be kept quiet because in their view they are not repatriating the remains but acting in accordance with the original agreement. They are also worried spitless that should this ‘repatriation’ become public, they would have to deal with other potential requests for returns. There you have it!

And now it seems that the shoe has dropped. The Aboriginal people who went to the Smithsonian want the rest of the remains returned. After seeing the remains and the state they were in they decided they wanted them all back. I got this follow up story from another blog reader:

TONY EASTLEY: Traditional owners from a remote Arnhem Land community in the Northern Territory want one of the largest and most respected museums in the world to return their ancestors’ remains.

In what’s been called a case of modern day head-hunting, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington has recently handed back some bones, but kept a collection of skulls.

Zoie Jones reports from the small community of Oenpelli.

Click through and you can listen to the podcast or read the transcript. There is another version by the same reporter up on ABC Darwin here.

I have no idea what the document actually says about when and how or if these remains that are at the Smithsonian shoud be returned. But if, in fact, there is a document and these remains are not being stored in an asequate way (both of the links aledge this) then there should be no question that they should be returned. I don’t buy the pandora’s box arguement or the “gateway drug” logic that once a few people get remains and or objects back from museums then everyone will want them back and musuems will have to shut their doors. Please. This just will not happen, there are too many practical reasons why many communities (Indigenous or not) do not want these collections returned. This is the time for these collecting institutions to think creativley and not get mired in what may come to pass. Engage with these communities, form relationships and work togther to negotiate solutions that work on a case by case basis.