{"id":570,"date":"2019-04-25T22:31:49","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T22:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/?p=570"},"modified":"2019-04-30T23:16:02","modified_gmt":"2019-04-30T23:16:02","slug":"the-right-to-remain-buried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/the-right-to-remain-buried\/","title":{"rendered":"The right to remain buried"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"50583682_299431447375576_1628664401940709376_n\"<\/a>It\u2019s happened all over the world \u2014 in Slovenia, Indiana and the Arctic Circle \u2014 the remains of native people have been unearthed and carted away in the name of science. Anthropologists and archeologists who study ancient civilizations often come face-to-face with ethical questions about the rights of the dead.<\/p>\n

Jayne-Leigh Thomas, \u201904, is one of them. After earning a bachelor\u2019s degree in anthropology and master\u2019s in cultural resource management, she knew she wanted to study human remains. Thomas spent seven years in Scotland, conducting doctoral research in Slovenia and the Middle East, before returning to the U.S. for her dream job at Indiana University-Bloomington.<\/p>\n

Thomas coordinates the repatriation of human remains to Native American and Native Hawaiian communities. She directs the university\u2019s Office of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)<\/a>, ensuring that the law is followed at a university that houses one of the largest collections of Native American human remains in the country. She often works as a consultant or liaison between tribes and universities to support research, as well as compliance and respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cNAGPRA is essentially a human rights law,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cIt provides equal protection for Native American human remains.\u201d<\/p>\n

A pivotal moment surfaced in 1976, when construction workers in Iowa hit graves while digging on a work site.<\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially, the white people were re-buried and the Native Americans went to a museum,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cNAGPRA requires that we return human remains to their rightful communities for proper burial.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe that remains belong on a shelf, but I understand that sometimes things happen.\u201d<\/div>\n

Thomas, a former softball pitcher and All-American for the Mountaineers, has visited 21 countries and 37 states during her career. She travels almost every month for conferences, scholarly talks, research and repatriation.<\/p>\n

\u201cNAGPRA is about relationships,\u201d she said. \u201cI go out to communities to meet people and talk to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2015, she spent 10 days in the I\u00f1upiat\u00a0community of Utqiagvik near the North Pole. A member of the community asked Thomas to personally escort their ancestors home and invited her to attend their annual whaling ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe that remains belong on a shelf, but I understand that sometimes things happen,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cThey have a lot of scientific value, but if you\u2019re going to study them \u2014 study them and then put them back.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s involved with an international organization that advocates for human rights for the dead. The group urges scientists to work alongside indigenous communities, by contacting religious and local leaders before analyzing or removing human remains. While some communities are interested in getting remains analyzed, Thomas highlighted the importance of seeking out answers rather than assuming they\u2019re unknowable.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody should just be considered a specimen,\u201d she said. \u201cFunerals and wills are such an important part of our society today, so why would we think that 200 years ago that didn\u2019t matter?\u201d<\/p>\n

NAGPRA protects artifacts, too. In Thomas\u2019 words, \u201cWhy would you give grandma back, but not grandma\u2019s wedding ring?\u201d Lately, she\u2019s branching out to international repatriation, which includes issues like Nazi-era stolen art.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about making sure that we don\u2019t have something that we shouldn\u2019t and returning things to the people they belong to,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not to say that you can\u2019t do research, but maybe you should ask the community first.\u201d<\/p>\n

The work of defining and protecting human rights for the dead is full of complex questions. Thomas said she tries to communicate these intricacies to undergraduate students in particular.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure, it\u2019s cool to go look at a mummy, but why has that become a spectacle while others get a proper burial?\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t have the answers, but it\u2019s important that we think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t