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American Indian Studies

This page is a starting point for all students researching American Indian issues. This guide is created by the Labriola National American Indian Data Center.

Article Databases

Journal Articles

There are several ways to find articles on-line. Here are a few suggestions.

  • From the Hayden Library's home page, click on Indexes. Under Subject, drag to or type in American Indians, and click on Go. This will generate a list of several data bases. America: History and Life, for example, or Bibliography of Native North America, will list articles in scholarly journals. Ethnic Newswatch will link to news articles in Native newspapers.
  • From the Hayden Library's home page, click on Resources, then on E-Journals, then on E-Journals by collection. This will generate a list of many collections; some will be helpful. Annual Reviews-Social Sciences, CatchWord, EBSCO, and JStor, for example, all have articles on repatriation.

Periodicals

The Labriola Center has a collection of magazines and newsletters, some of which will have articles relating to repatriation. Issues of Federal Archaeology Magazine, and Common Ground: Archaeology and Ethnography in the Public Interest, are also listed in the Ephemera collection.

Internet Sites

  • The National Park Service maintains and updates two websites about NAGPRA:
    • www.cast.uark.edu/products/NAGPRA/nagpra.html This is the National Archaeological Database, containing lists and links to legal documents, guidelines, and lists of inventory from different organizations. Search engines can help locate specific artifacts.
    • www.cr.nps.gov/nagpra/ This site has a lot of the same information, but is arranged slightly differently. It does not have the search engines or the latest lists of inventory.
  • The Repatriation Foundation (which produced Mending the Circle: A Native American Repatriation Guide, listed under books) maintains a website containing scholarly essays, history, and links to other NAGPRA sites, including links to government and museum sites: www.repatriationfoundation.org
  • The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, also maintains a site with text of NAGPRA, related regulations, and lists of inventories from Reclamation Districts, at www.usbr.gov/nagpra/

Caution: Before using the information from any web pages in your paper, be certain that your source is legitimate and accurate.

Books

This bibliography lists reference material dealing with repatriation of Native American remains and grave goods. The resources listed here include material found in the Labriola National American Indian Data Center and the University Libraries at Arizona State University, websites, and other research facilities. 


GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT REPATRIATION

In 1993, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was passed by Congress to address the rights of Native American tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations to the human remains, and sacred funerary objects of their ancestors. NAGPRA required museums and institutions to assemble information about their holdings, to make that information available, and to work with Native groups to repatriate remains and sacred objects to them for reburial.

Videos

Ephemera

A search of the Hayden Library's "American Indian Index" will bring up some interesting miscellaneous items. There are, for example, selected issues of Federal Archaeology Magazine, with essays on NAGPRA. The Labriola Center also holds copies of the Interior Department's draft rules on repatriation. Selected issues of Common Ground: Archaeology and Ethnography in the Public Interest, are also in the Ephemera collection. Additionally, there are newspaper articles, and articles from conference proceedings referenced in the Index.

The ASU Library acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. Arizona State University's four campuses are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. ASU Library acknowledges the sovereignty of these nations and seeks to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native American students and patrons. We are advocates for the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies within contemporary library practice. ASU Library welcomes members of the Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh, and all Native nations to the Library.