NAGPRA training on campus draws practitioners from around the world to learn and share best practices

Cultural sensitivity. New regulations. Potential contaminants. Legal processes. Tribal protocols. 

Understanding and adhering to NAGPRA, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, is a complex undertaking, and there aren’t enough training opportunities across the country to help practitioners do their jobs. 
 
That’s why the U. of I. NAGPRA office joined forces with Indiana University to develop and launch an Intensive NAGPRA Summer Training & Education Program (INSTEP) in 2023. This summer, the second annual training was held at Illinois, drawing 40 people from across the country and world (as far away from Rapa Nui/Easter Island) to campus for five days of instruction.

Jenny Davis, an associate professor and director of the American Indian Studies Program at Illinois, was the featured presenter on day three of the training. Davis covered a range of topics, including working with tribal partners on collaborative research methods and respectful curation and documentation strategies. 
 
“Respectful strategies include things like being really thoughtful about the kind of language and terminology that are being used, asking about whether certain practices are acceptable within cultural and religious protocols, and working collaboratively from the earliest stage on projects to make sure they go smoothly and don’t do additional harm,” said Davis.

“INSTEP ends up being as much about building relationships and trust as it is about sharing best practices.” — Krystiana Krupa, NAGPRA Program Officer

Other topics covered at the week-long training included impacts of Indian removal, history of looting and erasure, preparing for a repatriation/reburial, and understanding the most recent revisions to NAGPRA regulations. Davis said the complexity and nuance of the topics make it important to provide NAGPRA training in an intensive, in-person format that allows for questions and discussion.
 
“The intensive format allows the participants to cover a lot of ground in a single trip, through sustained conversations across each day,” said Davis. “The in-person format allows people to feel comfortable asking questions as well as learning from the questions and types of experience other participants bring.”
 
Krystiana Krupa, NAGPRA Program Officer at Illinois, agrees.
 
“INSTEP ends up being as much about building relationships and trust as it is about sharing best practices,” said Krupa. “For this reason, in-person programming is much more effective than online educational opportunities, and we enthusiastically encourage applicants from all areas of life (not just current students) to help us learn best practices from one another.”
 
Krupa, who is based in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Illinois, collaborated with the Indiana University NAGPRA office on the development of the INSTEP pilot program. The primary goal is to help mitigate what Krupa says is a nationwide lack of NAGPRA training opportunities “in most academic anthropology programs and even tribal communities.”
 
The Illinois-Indiana team is in the process of applying for NEH funding to extend the program for an additional three years (2025-2027).
 
“Fulfilling our NAGPRA responsibilities calls for strong collaboration with others beyond our campus, sharing knowledge and resources, and widening the circle of qualified NAGPRA practitioners,” said Susan Martinis, Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation. “I’m incredibly proud of our NAGPRA office for proactively building relationships and helping to move our nation closer to meaningful progress on this critical issue.”