Chamoru Repatriation News

Since I began working at the Guam Museum, repatriation of human remains, of artifacts, or cultural materials, has gone from being something that was just on a list of things that indigenous people struggle with in general, to something that is literally part of my job description. 

For those unfamiliar with the term, since it can be used in different contexts, repatriation as I'm thinking of it here means the return of cultural properties, ancestral remains to their countries, their peoples, usually from museums, universities or other institutions. As the curation for the Guam Museum, part of what I do deal with seeking possibilities for repatriation of Chamoru artifacts and ancestral remains. Whether they have been taken away a few years ago or decades ago for research or some other reason. 

(Rematriation is something I'll have to get into on another post. Less discussed, but critically important as we see the returning of artifacts, as less the end of a process, but an important step in terms of community and relationship building, as well as decolonization and sovereignty building.) 

Some entities have entire offices dedicated to these sorts of issues, or people who focus specifically on this task. But for me, it joins a long list of other things that I have to work to attend to as best as I can, without much support and with no staff. 

Communication, facilitation and negotiation around repatriation is something that can happen quickly and smoothly, or it can be something that demands alot of time, alot of energy and alot of resources. For the Guam Museum we have several conversations around repatriation or long-term loans, or bringing artifacts back to the Marianas that are currently ongoing. Some of these conversation, because of my limitations of time and lack of support, just can't really go anywhere. Others move ahead slowly and may take years.

The Guam Museum though is not alone and not even the primary entity working on issues of repatriation, especially when it comes to ancestral remains. That is office of the State Historic Preservation Officer or SHPO. In the CNMI, there is an NMI Museum and also there own Historic Preservation Office which has been working on these issues.

Last year alone, I had several Chamorus who were taking museum studies courses or working towards degrees in museum studies interview me about these sorts of issues, as they have achieved more attention in national conversations and even changes in terms of federal policy have helped more indigenous people in the US pursue repatriation efforts. One student who interviewed me framed their interest through the film Black Panther, and its opening scene where the character Killmonger steals back artifacts from African in a fancy British Museum. The student asked, "Do we have anything like that out there in museums in England or in New York? That we need to break out or take back?"

Below are some news articles documenting some recent successful and in-progress repatriation and rematriation efforts in Guam and the CNMI. Some of them are CNMI specific, Guam specific, and some are collaborative efforts across the Marianas with collections elsewhere in the world. 

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 Return of ancestral remains ignites community spirit

by Chrystal Marino

Saipan Tribune

November 25, 2024

After 43 years, several Indigenous remains made the 43-hour journey back to home soil, touching down at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport early morning Wednesday, Nov. 20.

The move was significant to many in the community, and this was evident as the Marianas diaspora in the U.S. mainland even travelled over to the University of California Riverside to conduct a sendoff ceremony for the remains, which included chants, prayers, and offering of flowers.

A similar welcome awaited the remains as members of the CNMI community made up of cultural dancers and local suruhuånu or herbal healer Donald Mendiola gathered at the airport last Wednesday. Following the dances and chants, Mendiola provided a Chamorro blessing for the ancestral remains.

NMI Museum of History and Culture director Leni Leon, along with a small CNMI delegation, including Joeten-Kiyu Public Library director Erlinda Naputi escorted and safeguarded the remains as they journeyed home.

Leon shared that the group had initially traveled to take part in the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums Conference in Palm Springs, California.

Leon shared with Saipan Tribune that just a couple of months prior he had received an email from Fran Lujan, a former CNMI resident of Chamorro descendant who serves as a director and curator for the Pacific Islanders Ethnic Art Museum in California.

"She was informed by the NACPRA program at the University of California, Riverside, about ancestral remains that are in their possession and have been in their possession since 1981."

Leon said that the remains had been originally transported to UCR for radio carbon analysis, taken from three sites in the CNMI—areas within Grotto Cave area, San Antonio's Pak Pak beach for Saipan and in Tinian, and the area near the Taga House.

He shared that upon learning this, the NMI Museum began consulting with the UCR Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act program, the CNMI Historic Preservation Office, Indigenous Affairs and the Carolinian Affairs Office on how they can repatriate the remains, all the while ensuring that they were in compliance, and they were taking every measure to respect cultural sensitivity, comply with the Native American Grave Protection Act, through which they were able to easily bring the remains home, as well as Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.

On Nov. 16, following the conference in California, a small number of the CNMI delegation, along with Leon traveled to UCR where the handover and sendoff ceremony took place. From there, the group would start the travel with the remains ensuring its protection.

"We did our best to be very respectful. None of the ancestry remains went through a Transportation Security Administration screening. They were hand-inspected, just to avoid any radiation and whatnot"

Leon shared that the send-off and the welcoming were both equally emotional.

"That was a pretty memorial event for me to witness. There were a lot of attendees that were very emotional, I would say. The same thing happened on Saipan when we arrived, while they were conducting their dances, their welcome home prayers and ceremony chants, I could see attendees in tears. So, I don't think it is much of a generational thing, but could potentially be an identity and a spiritual thing. Just to be able to know that their ancestors returned home and safely, I think that's what really touched their hearts. That's just from my observation," said Leon.

Personally, the NMI Museum director said the event also touched him.

“It was very emotional for me, and it was a pretty heavy responsibility for me as a Marshallese, doing this and not being neither Chamorro or Carolinian. And because I'm neither, I had to make sure that I took every process possible to be very respectful and considerate of cultural sensitivity. "

Leon said that the remains will be in his office at the NMI Museum until a final resting place, near to the original resting spots can be decided. He shared that, so far, the Historic Preservation Office is working with the Tinian Mayor's Office to identify sites for a burial site for any unearthed remains.

“So, they're working on that. Then there is a construction going on at Pak Pak Beach right now and HPO is also working on constructing a burial site there as well. So, that is a conversation that I will need to have with HPO and hope that we can include these ancestral remains at those two sites so we can rematriate them with the others."

According to sources from the internet, while repatriation means a literal returning to the land of your ancestry, rematriation carries a deeper meaning of returning to a way of life, one that lives with reverence for nature.

As for the Grotto site, Leon shared that he had a very promising conversation with Department of Public Lands Secretary Teresita Santos who said they're going to help in identifying a site.

"There's potential for designation of land for the ancestral remains. I think what makes this particular rematriation unique is that it was very community and culturally driven with cultural advisors being the performers, and suruhånu Uncle Donald Mendiola was a really big help and played a big role in making sure that we were very culturally sensitive to these ancestors.”

He also added, “I think, you know, it is important to acknowledge that it's the work of Native American tribe, tribes in California who really made this very possible. When they created the CalNACPRA." He said that through this program, it made the rematriation easy and they didn't have to pay millions of dollars to bring the remains back home.

Naputi also played a part in the rematriation process and shared with Saipan Tribune her personal experience in bringing back home the ancestral remains.

"Just knowing that our loved ones were out there and I know that they were brought out with good intentions to do a study on their remains and maybe get a better understanding of their gender, their age, and other information that was needed. But I'm glad that we were able to bring them home and lay them to rest where they once laid. It's always nice and a somber reminder that when we work together, when we work together, everything is possible. And just the beautiful ceremony, the going-away ceremony, the receiving ceremony here at the airport that we got from Francis Sablan and April Lepeki and their group and Uncle Don with his blessing and the people that were there to welcome us. It's just was beautiful.

She also couldn’t describe in words her feeling when she first opened the container where the ancestral remains were resting for the past 40 years.

“You can feel that energy from where they were for the past 40 years. The energy and the strength that they gave us to carry forth with and bring them home. There are no words to describe the feeling that you get when you first hold them in your arms. I'd like to acknowledge and give credit to our Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, and the Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang for giving us the opportunity and allowing us the opportunity to be a part of this very historic event.”

Naputi also gave kudos to Leon for helping in the process of rematriating the ancestral remans.

" I'm of Marianas descent and it really touched me to see that, even though Leni is not of Marianas descent or an indigenous Chamorro-Carolinian, he still took the initiative to bring our people home. And with that, I thank him for leading us and guiding us in this effort. As a library director, my involvement is really to just connect people with the right institution, give them the information that they needed. And when they reached out to me a year ago, last November 2023, I could only do what I could as a director, putting them in contact with the right people. As much as I want to be the one to lead the efforts of bringing our ancestral remains, I'm not in the right position to do so. We are very fortunate and lucky to have all the support from the president of Association of Tribal Archives, Library Museum, Susan Feller, also Dr. Tarisi Vunidilo, and her husband, and the rest of our Pacific Islanders for standing with us during this time. We are forever grateful for all the support that we received while we were out there."

 

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Ancient remains returned to Guam after four decades in a California lab

By Pacific Island Times News Staff

November 8, 2023

The remains of an ancient CHamoru woman have been shipped back to Guam after languishing for 42 years in a California laboratory, where they were examined.

The 2,000-year-old remains were recovered from the Tarague area, the site of a major archaeological project in Yigo between 1980 and 1981.

A sample of remains was sent to the UC-Riverside radiocarbon dating lab, where it confirmed the age.

The lab was decommissioned in 2003. However, it wasn’t until the last few years that the college’s staff found a large number of ancestral remains and artifacts – mostly Native American Indians.

Guam and the CNMI were part of the inventory.

Guam’s State Historic Preservation Office and the University of California-Riverside coordinated the repatriation of ancestral remains to Guam over the weekend.

“This is a very honorable mission that UC-Riverside is undertaking,” said Patrick Lujan, Guam state historic preservation officer. “They have taken the wrongs of the past and are making it right.”

Lujan worked closely with Megan Murphy, UCR repatriation coordinator, in the last few months to coordinate the transfer.

“We are just so happy that the CHamoru ancestors get to go back home,” Murphy said. “They shouldn’t have sat here for so long. They belong back home.”

The archaeological excavations in the 1980s, spearheaded by the University of Guam, led to the discovery of nine levels of cultural deposits in a depth of nearly 5 meters. It was the deepest archaeological find in the Marianas to date.

The significant Tarague archaeological project involved long-time Guam archaeologist Darlene Moore, who back then was a student taking field class under Dr. Hiro Kurashina.

Moore doesn’t recall the ancestors being transferred off island at the time.

Now 85 and retired, Moore is glad the ancestral remains have made it back.

“Thinking about that project brings back fond memories,” Moore said. “I didn’t know they sent off the remains. I’m just so glad that you’ve brought them home.”

Working with Murphy and her team at UCR, SHPO Lujan has already gained some leads on other Guam cultural resources that are within the UC system and will work to repatriate them as well.

Along with the 2000-year-old woman, more recent remains dating about 100 years from a Talofofo project were also returned.

The repatriation efforts were paid fully by UC-Riverside.

 

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Efforts to return cultural artifacts to Guam
Daily Post Staff

The Guam Daily Post
Sep 3, 2024

Lt. Gov. Josh Tenorio has initiated efforts to establish a long-term cooperative partnership between the government of Guam and the Bishop Museum in Hawaii that will address the return of latte stones and the status of thousands of CHamoru artifacts taken from Guam more than 100 years ago, Adelup announced in a press release.

Tenorio met with Dee Jay Mailer, Bishop Museum chief executive officer, to address the artifacts given to the Bishop Museum as part of the Hornbostel Collection. The collection consists of latte stones and approximately 10,000 items, making it one of the largest ethnological collections at the Bishop Museum. In the early 1920s, Hans Hornbostel, an amateur archaeologist, collected thousands of artifacts, including human remains and latte stones, which were then transported to the Bishop Museum with the assistance of the United States military. Though the human remains were repatriated to Guam in 2000, the remaining artifacts at the Bishop Museum represent one-eighth of the museum's entire ethnological collection, Adelup said in the release.

Tenorio viewed part of the collection while in Hawaii for the Festival of Pacific Arts, along with Michael Lujan Bevacqua, curator of the Guam Museum. The Department of CHamoru Affairs, the Guam Museum and the State Historic Preservation Office have been actively engaged with Bishop Museum staff to reach a resolution, Adelup said. Tenorio has continued the effort virtually with a goal of establishing a long-term formal cooperative agreement with Bishop Museum trustees.

“I am encouraged by the Bishop Museum’s willingness to work with Guam. We have agreed to pursue a long-term cooperative agreement that will prioritize the return of the latte stones and develop a strategy to address the remaining artifacts. The Bishop Museum and the Guam Museum are jointly working to properly curate the entire collection, and I am grateful for their commitment to complete the necessary archaeological reports,” said Tenorio.

The agreement is expected to include professional development and training opportunities that will increase the skill and capacity of the Guam Museum and the Guam Cultural Repository staff, Adelup said in the release. Tenorio is also pursuing efforts that will facilitate the development of educational programs, expanded research and public access to the collection that will enhance the understanding and appreciation of the collection, the release said, leveraging partnerships with federal and state governments and private entities.

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 Guam Museum hosts HITA Talk on CHamoru Repatriation efforts

by Walter Ulloa

Guam Daily Post

December 22, 2024

Two CHamoru researchers presented their work on locating and repatriating Indigenous ancestral remains from European museums. The presentation, held Saturday at the Guam Museum theater, detailed their three-year effort to return cultural artifacts and human remains to their homeland.

The presentation, titled "Waves of Return: CHamoru Approaches to Repatriation in Museum Collections," is part of the Guam Museum's HITA Talks series, which focuses on Heritage, Ideas, Traditions and Arts.

The event gave a nearly full theater of attendees a chance to learn more and ask questions about the work being done to recover the CHamoru community’s cultural heritage.

These remains, along with other cultural items, were taken during a period of European colonization and are now the subject of repatriation campaigns by Indigenous communities seeking to reclaim their heritage.

The presenters, Samantha Barnett and Andrew Gumataotao, have been working to trace the origins and stories of these ancestral remains and are part of a broader movement to address the historical wrongs of cultural dispossession and to bring these items back to their communities.

Barnett and Gumataotao have been working alongside the Guam and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands historic preservation offices to document and request the return of CHamoru ancestral remains currently held in two of Europe’s most notable museums.

Their research has revealed that Berlin's Ethnological Museum holds the remains of more than 40 Indigenous CHamorus, along with various cultural artifacts. Additionally, nine CHamoru and Carolinian ancestral remains taken from Guam, Saipan and Rota are currently housed in Spain's National Museum of Anthropology in Madrid.

Barnett told The Guam Daily Post on Saturday, “For Germany, we have officially submitted repatriation requests to be able to bring the CHamoru ancestral remains back home. In Madrid, we are in the early stages in working with the Guam and the CNMI (historic preservation offices) to start that process.”

“We didn’t know that our ancestors were in these museums,” said Barnett. “So, I think a big part of that is continuing to tell their stories, building awareness in our community so we can begin to work together to bring them back home.”

According to Barnett, there are also many native bird species, butterflies and animal skins from across the Marianas in the Natural History Museum in Berlin. She stated, “I believe there is so much potential in bringing our community to these collections and the knowledge that can be gained.” Barnett added, “We are looking at applying for a grant program to bring local scientists in collaboration with these collections so they can begin to do research.”

In addition to local scientific research, Barnett said she believes Indigenous cultural practitioners can benefit from access to the collections held in these museums.

“There are a number of cultural artifacts, including woven slippers and other belongings, that would be really fruitful for our practitioners here to learn from,” said Barnett. “There are so many ways that can unfold that would be really meaningful for our people here.”

According to Barnett, once repatriation is achieved, it will be up to the historic preservation offices and the communities to determine if the remains will be interred or kept in depositories or museums.

“This is our first public event talking about what we’ve been doing, and we hope to continue building awareness, including the teaching side of it, which is so important,” said Barnett.

Barnett and Gumataotao have drawn much inspiration from the successful repatriation efforts of other Pacific islands. They aim to learn from these experiences and apply them to their work in the Marianas. They also noted that fostering solidarity among institutions and communities is crucial for achieving success. Looking ahead, they are eager to collaborate with other Pacific island organizations and international groups engaged in similar struggles.

“I think (our presentation today) went quite well,” said Gumataotao. “We had a lot of practitioners and cultural experts from our community attend and give feedback. I’m hopeful that we’ll receive more feedback, which we’ll organize and expand on as we continue engaging in their collection.”

The Guam Daily Post also spoke to Michael Lujan Bevacqua, curator of the Guam Museum, about HITA Talk. “It is Guam Museum’s version of a TED Talk. It showcases our own creatives, innovators and thinkers. This series was started to give a platform to those people who are doing important creative, historical, cultural and professional work.”

According to Bevacqua, the HITA Talk was postponed for over a year due to Typhoon Mawar and air-conditioning issues, but “when Sam and Andrew updated me on the work they’ve been doing, I told them this would make a great HITA Talk, and this is a perfect topic to revive the series.”

“We are going to do more HITA Talks. Now that we brought this back, and this is the first we had in a while, I said let’s do one again and see what happens,” said Bevacqua. “(Today’s talk) had a pretty good turnout, especially during the holidays.”

The event was free to attend, and for those who were unable to be present in person, a livestream was made available on the Guam Museum's social media channels.

“We want them back, we really want them back,” exclaimed Gumataotao at the end of the talk. “It takes (everyone’s) help, ideas and feedback to formulate the best path forward (for successful repatriation).”

To provide feedback, interested people can view a recording of the livestream or learn more about Barnett and Gumataotao’s work by visiting the Guam Museum’s social media channels or emailing michael.bevacqua@dca.guam.gov.