Confronting the Truth and Working toward Reconciliation: Collaborative Archaeology and Bioarchaeology in the Post-TRC Era

Date/Time: 
Vendredi, mai 4, 2018 - 11:50
Presentation Type: 
Oral (live)
Author(s): 
Kisha Supernant - University of Alberta
Key Word(s): 
Indigenous history
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Bioarchaeology
Community-driven research

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released 94 Calls to Action, many of which pertain to archaeology, museum studies, and bioarchaeology. These Calls to Action come at a time when Indigenous communities in Canada are more involved in archaeology than ever before and when Indigenous communities are increasingly the drivers of the study of ancestral remains. In this paper, I explore how archaeologists and bioarchaeologists can respond to the TRC Calls to Action, focusing both on the specifics of certain calls and broader implications for transforming our field and our practice. If we want to move toward a better future for all people on these lands currently called Canada, we need to first face the truth of our history and the ways the structure of our discipline today upholds settler colonialism. Moving toward community-oriented and community-driven research is an important step, but we also need to explore how museums, institutions, governments, and educational settings structure how people interact with and understand Indigenous history. Here, I provide some case studies that expose the underlying tensions within our discipline that we need to address before we can imagine a reconciled past for the future.