Sarah M Proulx

He calls them bonediggers. A reflection of a legacy not yet undone. Based on entrenched memories of how they departed with the bones of our ancestors. This project will examine the history of archaeological investigations undertaken in my home community of Shebahonaning. I will investigate the colonial legacy of anthropology, archaeology, and museology, and question what it means to practice ethical, and community-engaged research. My analysis will explore how cultural material, histories, ancestral remains, and archaeological data, are incorporated into archaeological archives and how they are represented through publication and exhibition. Institutions that currently hold these materials include the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Canadian Museum of History, Royal Ontario Museum, and Laurentian University. I will examine barriers to Indigenous access to archaeological and archival information collected from the community as well as current struggles to reclaim cultural heritage, sacred objects, and ancestral remains as a non-federally recognized Anishinaabe community. Finally, this project will provide a comparative analysis of repatriation frameworks for both Canada and the United States. I aim to highlight how they should be revised to consider settler-colonial relocation and assimilation policies and respect Indigenous worldviews, laws, and protocols.