Cross-Cultural Collaboration: Native Peoples and Archaeology in the Northeastern United States

19. Constructing Alliances along the Northern Border: Consultations with Mi'kmaq and Maliseet Nations

19. Constructing Alliances along the Northern Border Consultations with Mi’kmaq and Maliseet Nations 7:GC6G9 ?:GDB: 6C9 96K>9 : EJIC6B any current collaboration and consultation activities between archaeologists and Native American groups occur as government -to-government relationships that are initiated and guided by formal policy. This chapter, however, describes an informal collaborative relationship between the two authors—one, Bernard Jerome, a respected Mi’kmaq leader, and the other, David Putnam, a non-Native archaeologist . We came together to address in separate voices issues of concern regarding archaeology, but the results of the ensuing partnership have been much more far-reaching. Rather than considering this a new and innovative approach, we believe that it follows the pattern of traditional protocol with centuries of precedent. The case study discussed in this chapter focuses on archaeological consultation with Mi’kmaq and Maliseet nations in Maine and New Brunswick about a field school excavation of a prehistoric site in northern Maine that raised a variety of contentious issues. The problems were resolved through a series of traditional councils in which tribal elders and archaeologists arrived at consensus on a procedural outline for the work. The project resulted in archaeologists, Mi’kmaqs, and Maliseets working together to recover information about the past and to find common ground for the future. M Constructing Alliances  Although we are friends and partners in this collaborative relationship, we have very different backgrounds and perspectives. Jerome is a member of the Aroostook Band of Micmacs and former chief of the Mi’kmaq community of Gesgapegiag, in Maria, Quebec, at the mouth of the Cascapedia River, the premier Atlantic salmon river in North America. He negotiated with the late prime minister of Canada, Pierre Trudeau, during the Mi’kmaq Salmon Wars of the 1970s. Mi’kmaq is his first language, but he is also fluent in English and French. He is a traditionalist and a highly respected cultural and spiritual leader and teacher. Putnam is a non-Native professional archaeologist and an assistant professor in science and anthropology at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. Our situation is somewhat different from others described in this volume . The geography, climate, and culture history of northern Maine are closely akin to what is now eastern Canada, and, as a consequence, collaborative efforts cannot be limited by the arbitrary and recent construct of the international boundary. Two indigenous nations occupy the northern Maine/Canadian Maritimes region (Figure 19.1): the Maliseet (Wolastuqiyik , Wulustuqweig, Malecite) and Mi’kmaq (Micmac, Mi’gmag). Both nations retain significant elements of traditional culture, and many elders continue to speak their native languages on a daily basis. Although the Passamaquoddy Tribe in eastern Maine is comparable in this regard, other indigenous groups in the northeastern United States have experienced greater degrees of assimilation and loss of language and traditional perspective. Long-standing intertribal political differences are particularly evident between Mi’kmaq and Maliseet elders. These animosities have deep historical roots stemming from the European fur trade and resulting “Beaver Wars” that began in the early sixteenth century. Mi’kmaqs from the central Maine coast killed the Maliseet/Abenaki leader Bashaba in 1615 (Prins 1996). During the struggle by the Aroostook Band of Micmacs for U.S. federal recognition, granted in 1991, they were actively opposed by Maliseets, who claimed the Mi’kmaqs were recent interlopers into Maliseet territory. The two tribes also have a long history of alliances against common enemies . The Wabanaki Confederacy, which in Maine currently consists of the Aroostook Band of Micmacs, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Figure 19.1. Map of the Maine-Maritimes region, showing the location of the St. John River basin. Constructing Alliances  the Penobscot Nation, and both divisions of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, grew out of an alliance of Algonquian peoples against Iroquois raids in the early 1600s. In contemporary Maine archaeology, these same allies stand unified in conflicts with New England museums concerning the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (nagpra) and the repatriation of human remains and ceremonial objects. Differing U.S. and Canadian federal government tribal relations policies complicate this situation. The provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec and the State of Maine all contribute an additional array of regional policies . The multitiered and often conflicting government approaches create a variety of difficulties for Native people and the archaeologists who attempt to collaborate with them. In our situation...