Science and Respect are Not Mutually Exclusive
In 1976, an archaeology class with the University of California, San Diego unearthed something remarkable: a 9,500-year-old pair of skeletons. These skeletons, known as La Jolla skeletons, are among the oldest human remains found in North America and belonged to a man and a woman who died in their 20s and 30s. For decades the remains were kept at the San Diego Archaeology Center until 2016, when a lawsuit resulted in the remains’ custody being transferred to a group of local Native American tribes. This lawsuit originated from a 2006 claim for the remains by the Kumeyaay Cultural Repatriation Committee under the 1990 Native American Graves Repatriation Act, in which the University of California San Diego agreed to release the remains to the La Posta band tribe. In 2011 a team of archaeologists and anthropologists retaliated by filing a lawsuit to stop the transfer. This lawsuit ended in 2016 with the Supreme Court declining to hear an appeal to a lower court’s decision to side with the tribes, effectively granting the tribes custody of the remains.
The disappointment from the plaintiffs was palpable. Dr. Brian Kemp, a molecular anthropologist at Washington State University, filed an amicus brief on behalf of the plaintiffs and framed the decision as a devastating blow to science and history. Dr. Robert Bettinger, one of the plaintiffs, described the decision as “a tremendous loss for science.” These lamentations from the plaintiffs did not reflect the feelings of the tribes that laid claim to the remains, however. The tribes themselves said that they were open to the possibility of DNA testing and other studies of the remains. What the tribes want is the ability to exert cultural sovereignty and to have a seat at the table on issues that affect them. There are many cases like this in the United States in which the scientific community ignores or resists the wishes of tribes to exert cultural sovereignty and create an unnecessary amount of tension between tribes and the larger scientific community. There must be a culture of respect and inclusion in science. Prioritizing such a culture over one of pure academic and economic interest is mutually beneficial to everyone. The United States has a long history of forcefully taking artifacts and land for scientific progress, and continuing this practice only serves further harm.
Similar tensions came to a head last year over the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Construction was blocked by camps of native Hawaiian protesters blocking access to the summit of Mauna Kea, a sacred site for the Hawaiian people. This summit is where the sky god Wakea met with the earth goddess Papa Hanau Moku, leading to the creation of the islands. Historically this site was only accessible to the highest-ranking chiefs and home to many other cultural sites, including burial sites. This obviously did not stop the construction of telescopes on the summit after colonization of Hawaii by the US, as the summit has been home to several telescopes for years. The first telescopes were considered by many Hawaiians to be a desecration, and the plan to build the TMT was the final straw for many community members.
Many do not believe claims that this telescope would be the final telescope constructed, considering the scientific community’s history with the native Hawaiian community. While there are many Hawaiians who support the construction of the TMT for the economic boost and the tourism it would attract, the telescope’s opponents respond that they are not beneficiaries of such economic opportunities. They argue that economic boosts mostly go to (often white) business owners and academics.
The protestors immediate goal was to halt the construction of the telescope, but their wider goal was to bring attention to a pattern of the state’s and scientific community’s economic interests being given priority over their cultural interests. Because of a years-long history of their concerns being unaddressed, relations between the native Hawaiian community and the astronomy community have been severely damaged.
It’s a history of disrespect and unwillingness to listen that has damaged scientific progress. Many people in indigenous communities are open to scientific studies of their remains, artifacts, and land. As Steven Benegas of the Kumeyaay Cultural Repatriation Committee explains, he does not want anyone to think they are closed off, but Native Americans want to be the ones who tell their own story. Scientific progress can still be made within a culture of cooperation. Jessica Dempsey, deputy director of the East Asian Observatory explains in an interview with Nature, “gone are the days of the scientific conceit of being separate from the community.” Astronomers, and scientists in general, need to think about the cultural context of where they fit in and who their work impacts. By considering this, it creates a beneficial path forward for everyone.
References
1. Witze, A. How the fight over a Hawaii mega-telescope could change astronomy. Nature (London) 2020, 577, 457–458. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00076-7
2. MEGHAN MINER MURRAY Why Native Hawaiians Are Protesting a Telescope. The New York Times 2019, 11. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/22/us/hawaii-telescope-protest.html
3. CARL ZIMMER A Battle Over Bones. New York Times (1923-Current file) 2016, D3. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/02/science/tribes-win-in-fight-for-la-jolla-bones-clouds-hopes-for-dna-studies.html