s02e02: Salvage Anthropology "A Nasty Business"

Challenging Colonialism

Episode 2 follows the introductory episode with a deeper dive into Salvage Anthropology and its origins. Academic study of Indigenous cultures in California trace back to scholars such as Franz Boas and Aleš Hrdlička. They were both proponents of what was called ‘Salvage Anthropology’ - the belief that Indigenous communities were dying and making way for modern society. These beliefs were built upon problematic eurocentric ideas of culture and value. And, at the same time, the recordings and interviews of these early scholars are today helping some Indigenous communities reconnect with ancestral knowledge and insights. This episode delves into this complicated history.

Speakers:

Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy (Hupa, Yurok, Karuk)

Dr. Samuel J Redman

Cindi Alvitre (Tongva)

Dr. Robin R. R. Gray (Ts’msyen/Cree)

Mark Hylkema

Interviews conducted by Martin Rizzo-Martinez; music by G.Gonzales; audio production by Daniel Stonebloom

This podcast is supported by California State Parks Foundation

Resources for more information:

Prophets and Ghosts: The Story of Salvage Anthropology

Samuel J. Redman

Archaeologies of Indigenous Presence

Edited by Tsim D. Schneider and Lee M. Panich

Community-Based Archaeology: Research with, by, and for Indigenous and Local Communities

by Sonya Atalay

“Towards an Analytic of Survivance in California Archaeology”

Nate Acebo and Desireé Reneé Martinez

Collaborating at the Trowel's Edge: Teaching and Learning in Indigenous Archaeology

Stephen W. Silliman

Overcoming Hindrances to Our Enduring Responsibility to the Ancestors Protecting Traditional Cultural Places

Desireé Reneé Martinez (Tongva)

Yanomami: The Fierce Controversy and What We Can Learn from It

by Rob Borofsky