Chip Colwell is the senior curator of anthropology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. His work has been highlighted in such venues as the New York Times, Denver Post, Huffington Post, and C-SPAN, and his books include Living Histories: Native Americans and Southwestern Archaeology and Inheriting the Past: The Making of Arthur C. Parker and Indigenous Archaeology.
"Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits uses the story of one museum
to show how Native American symbols of identity and ceremony and
ancestral bones were initially appropriated as objects of cultural
patrimony, but recently have become part of a complicated struggle
of ownership. As Colwell profoundly shows, the emotional price paid
by everyone involved--Native American, archaeologist, and museum
curator--is never small."
--Larry J. Zimmerman, author of The Sacred Wisdom of the Native
Americans
"Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits breaks new ground. Colwell's
dual roles of museum curator and human rights advocate offers a
narrative of personal growth and professional practice that couples
a humanist's sensitivities with a historian's insistence on primary
documentary sources. The resulting breath of fresh air contributes
mightily to still-controversial conversations about American
reburial and repatriation. The message sounds loud and clear:
Twenty-first century museums can indeed stand tall in addressing
their own complex histories. Why do some still feel obliged to
cover up past performance, to lock out qualified researchers from
their archives and to sugar-coat their past in the hopes that
nobody will notice?"
--David H. Thomas, author of Skull Wars: Kennewick Man,
Archaeology, and the Battle for Native American Identity
"A lightly written, insider's account of the battle over human
remains and objects in museums. . . . As this book shows, the fight
to reclaim Native America's culture has been waged, in significant
parts, by professionals such as Colwell. His is indeed an insider's
account--just not from the sidelines. He too has been on the
battlefield."-- "Spectator"
"Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits is a sobering peek into the
controversy that surrounds tribal artifacts and human remains found
in museums throughout the United States. His eloquent narration
details several unique cases of repatriation. . . . Colwell has a
unique perspective. He provides the reader with a firsthand look at
the repatriation process, sympathetically including tribal
perspectives--something that few museum directors have sought to do
when writing on this subject in the past."-- "Science"
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