Native American Ethical Issues

What if everyday in America there was not an action someone could take because someone of an opposite race sexually assaulted or domestically abused that person? Often news outlets only focus on major even in cities or towns, but never the reservations. With the lack of awareness of the number of rapes and domestic abuse victims on reservations, at large society is saying America doesn’t care due to reservations having sovereignty. Even with new laws signed into place by President Obama to deal with the rape and abuse problems to Native American women, that come from non Native Americans, the problem with this is it’s a pilot only on three tribes (Culp-Ressler,1).It is said it will expand soon, but how soon? America is not known for being

The relationships between Native Americans and Archeologist has been difficult to say the least. In the past archeologists have never been seen in a positive light by Native Americans. The relationship between us has improved with the passing of NAGPRA. However, there are a lot if things that need to be done to make a permeant change. The way to change the relationship between us and them is a simple idea but a difficult undertaking. First we need to make all the laws that involve native American antiquity have more effect. This laws, if broken, should have a real punishment to the people that broke them. If we can show Native American that we are trying to make a change at the governmental level that could translate to a change in community relationships. Additionally, there needs to be more community involvement, whether that is inviting native people work on sites, or having more indigenous archeologist. Overall if we want to continue to learn about the past, archeologists must make a change for the future.

The fascination with Native Americans has been a constant with outsiders since explorers first “discovered” the New World. The biggest surge in this fascination came in the mid-19th century when the Indian Wars were starting to come to an end and the belief that Native Americans were disappearing, walking into the sunset never to be seen again. This led to an increase in the collecting of anything Native American, from artifacts to stories to portraits. The inevitable outcome of this was that Native Americans, who were never considered very highly to begin with, where now moved into a category of scientific interest to be study. This scientific interest in Native Americans is what many museums and other institutions based their collections and exhibits on and is one of the issues that many Native Americans have with how both their people and their culture were, and to some extent still are, represented in these places.

Ethics has become an important mainstay to conduct efficient and purposeful research. The ethical researches involving Indigenous population had been increased over the last two decades and there is neither any discussion nor dissipation about the result findings with the population being researched (Stewart et al., 2006). Thus, the critics as well as the Indigenous population had always raised a question about the benefits, methods and ethical issues of research involving Indigenous population (Willie et al., 2004). However, numerous principles have been formulated to preserve the rights of people from being exploitated, out of which, The Nuremberg code (1949) was the first followed by the World Medical Association Declaration

Certain rules are made to protect rights and to keep the peace among groups. Sometimes that’s not always how they turn out. The Native American and United States Policy was created to keep equal rights for the Natives, but didn’t exactly happen how they planned for it to.

The first major piece of legislation that applied to the protection of indigenous remains and cultural materials came with the passage of the Antiquities Act of 1906. The act had major implications for the relationship between anthropology and Native Americans. The intent of the Antiquities Act was to protect the cultural resources of the United States by creating a permitting process for archaeological excavations and establish punishments for looting. Unfortunately, the act furthered the notion that anthropologists held authority over indigenous material culture (Daehnke 2011). Instead of protecting artifacts for indigenous parties, the act legislated the appropriation of culture by anthropologists. Native American remains essentially became

With all of these issues at play, some people believe that the federal and state governments should be more involved with the problems the native people face by giving Native Americans greater protection over their rights. After all, according to Chief Justice Marshall in 1831, the federal government has a special obligation to care for Native Americans. One way the government can assist Native Americans is by providing more funds to Native American communities such as in areas of healthcare and education.

Created by Jesse J Holland Native Americans Say US Violated Human Rights. The article was published on the washington times website. The article contains Native American group believing the United States is violating the human rights. The group in hopes of getting help with their land claim, wanted to charge United States with human rights violations.

The United States government has always been quick to dismiss minorities. Many movements are happening today to gain the rights they never had, such as Black Lives Matter, feminism, LGBTQIA+ rights, and more. Yet, one of the most oppressed groups has silence in the media - Native Americans. Their struggles are rarely addressed and remain relatively unknown. Their cultures are continuously appropriated by fashion companies and slandered by the film industry. Since the beginning of the United States’ interaction with Native American people, they have been treated with complete disrespect; even now their basic rights are compromised as they are continually treated dishonorably.

This black or white categorical system that Western science has created can be greatly offensive not only to indigenous people, but to many other cultures. Tribes claim that Western science has dehumanized and objectified them. Moreover, Western scientists have used the collected data as evidence of Native-American’s primitiveness compared to Europeans. Indigenous people have suffered unimaginable pain and literal torture for over 500 years because of the misconception that they are savages, and meant for extinction. The historic oppression of Native-Americans by Euro-Americans, who are the ancestors of most present day archaeologists, is a principal factor in the standoff between science and belief. The ancestors of most white archeologists fought to not only kill a few hundred Native-Americans, but to remove any traces of them. Ironically, the same Euro-Americans who escaped oppressors and tyrants in search of religious freedom, became oppressors themselves. The “white” invasion stripped Native-Americans of their long hair for short hair, their tribal wear for European buckskin clothing, and their ancestral religions for the “less-weird” Christian religion. Repeatedly, Native-Americans’ beliefs and culture have been violated. According to my childhood friend Loa, Native-Americans have a spiritual obligation to make sure that the deceased are comfortable in the afterlife. Many tribe members never say the name of a loved one after they have passed in order for their spirit to remain at peace. I cannot imagine the amount of devastation, sickness, and anger tribal members must feel when they learn that their ancestors’ have been unearthed, tested, published, polished, and placed on display at their local

Art of the Indigenous Americas is among some of the Earth’s oldest artistic traditions. Art of the Indigenous Americas developed between c. 10,000 B.C.E. and 1492 C.E., which marked the beginning of the invasions by European explorers. Regions and cultures are referred to as the Indigenous Americas to signify the importance and influence of the cultural traditions of the nations and societies which first settled in these areas over those of the colonizers who took over the American continents over the past five hundred years. Artworks and archaeological sites of the Indigenous Americas provide archaeologists and scholars with crucial information about how the indigenous people lived, their beliefs and the influence of these beliefs on

Influence of public opinion should not go unacknowledged in the discussion of repatriation. While American Indian people were well aware of the injustices their community faced, repatriation grew into a movement on a larger scale during the 1970s. With the creation of the Red Power Movement came …… Colonialism in archaeology was questioned by activists who interrupted excavations, held protests and urged to have native remains back (Colwell-Chanthaphonh 95). In 1971, members of the American Indian movement vandalized an archaeological excavation site in Minnesota (98). Protests like these grew on a national level, in large

For years archeologists and other specialists have stressed and continue to stress the need for a professional code of ethics for the treatment of human remains. Moral phenomenology along with the controversy that surrounds ownership rights have been the primary concerns for those interested in the creation of such code. Jien Kim and Dawnie W. Steadman tackle the challenge by laying out ground rules that must be followed to ensure the development of an equitable set of conduct guidelines. In their article, “A Review of Codes of Ethics in the United States and Ethical Dilemmas Surrounding the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)” they unravel the complication of prognosticating ethical perplexity. Much of the haziness comes in, when deciding who should be entitled to what and why in varying scenarios. Cultural heritage---from Peru’s national Urban Identity to the State’s pseudo tradition identity--- influences the divergent roles archeology plays among different demographics while making ownership associations.

The recovery of human remains and artefacts can cause ethical issues to arise for archaeologists. This happens primarily because a person, community or culture may have a connection with such material. Today, archaeologists strive to deal with human remains with respect and artefacts with care. Despite the controversy the ethics in archaeology can cause, it is a very important aspect. It allows for consideration to be taken while handling finds that may be a sensitive topic for some. In recent years, archaeologists and museums have become more aware of the emotions and customs of other cultures. In response, there has been repatriation of human remains and artefacts to their rightful owners or custodians. The way in which archaeological finds

Native Americans were indigenous to the land for at least 11,000 years prior to European interference, and consisted of hundreds of different tribes and settlements. However, upon the European’s arrival, they were all labeled a homogenous “ Indian”, and classified as barbarians and savages due to their lack of clothing, and dark coloring. Today, Native Americans still struggle to assert land ownership and even basic human rights. “ Some of the most impressive artwork of the Aztecs of Mexico, Polynesians of the Pacific, Inca of South America, and ancient Egyptians are not to be found in Mexico, Polynesia, Peru, or Egypt but in Museums located in Western Europe and North America.” (Feder, 62) Native Americans have long felt like foreigners in their own land, especially in the years following the Manifest Destiny Doctrine. How many years must pass before someone is considered archaeological evidence? Regarding the excavation of other civilizations, it’s several centuries. However American museums such as the Smithsonian have been known to have housed Native American remains not even thirty years old. Many laws have been passed since