REU: Native Voices, Past and Present. Studies of Native American Collections at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

University Of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

This award provides funds for an REU Site at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The focus of the research is on Native American material culture collections at the Museum. The Museum curates about 200,000 objects of Native North American origin derived from dozens of Native American tribes and were collected at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. Most, if not all, of these objects are of singular interest to native groups and are fully catalogued under the guidelines of NAGPRA (Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act). Each year, six Native American students will be recruited to the University of Pennsylvania campus. For one semester, the students will enroll in U-Penn courses and live on campus while conducting independent research at the Museum. The Native American students will each partner with a current U-Penn student, and the U-Penn student will then spend six weeks during the summer at the Native American community, reservation, or research institution where their Native American partner is from. This award contributes to the Foundation's continuing efforts to attract talented students into careers in science through active undergraduate research experiences.