February 20–21, 2004
Creating a Decolonization Workbook
Co-chaired by Angela Cavender Wilson, Arizona State University and Michael Yellow Bird, University of Kansas
February 26–29, 2004
Center for Digital Archaeology I
Co-chaired by Richard M. Leventhal, President, School for Advanced Research and Stephen Plog, Department of Anthropology, University of Virginia
March 4–8, 2004
Materiality in Archaeology
Chaired by Lynn M. Meskell, Department of Anthropology, Columbia University
A seminar of Columbia University graduate students chaired by associate professor of anthropology and former SAR resident scholar Lynn Meskell addressed “Materiality in Archaeology.”
April 8–9, 2004
Doing Indigenous Research: Theory and Practice
Chaired by Jennifer Nez Denetdale, Department of History, University of New Mexico
May 11–12, 2004
Pottery Mound
Chaired by Polly Schaafsma, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Laboratory of Anthropology, Museum of New Mexico
In May, Museum of New Mexico, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture research associate Polly Schaafsma convened a two-day seminar about the site of Pottery Mound, an early Pueblo IV site of approximately 500 rooms located on the Rio Puerco west of Los Lunas, New Mexico.
May 19–23, 2004
Native American Identity
Chaired by Suzan Shown Harjo, President, Morningstar Institute, Washington, D.C.
This seminar Seminar included valuable insights and contributions to the issue of Native American identity as noted through aspects of blood quantum, sovereignty, gambling, land allotment rights, ancestral and kinship concerns, art, and the environment.
June 4–5, 2004
Chaco Digital Initiative
Chaired by Stephen Plog, Department of Anthropology, University of Virginia
June 11–12, 2004
Center for Digital Archaeology II
Co-chaired by Richard M. Leventhal, President, School for Advanced Research and Stephen Plog, Department of Anthropology, University of Virginia
Stephen Plog (University of Virginia) worked this year with SAR president Richard Leventhal on plans for an organization to support archaeologists who want to work extensively in the digital realm. The planning group for the proposed Center for Digital Archaeology met at SAR for short seminars in February and June.
June 20–22, 2004
Establishing Identity: The Social and Political Life of the Chief White Antelope Blanket (Part I)
Chaired by Kathy Whitaker, Director, Indian Arts Research Center, School for Advanced Research
This seminar included microscopic research and analysis regarding the Chief White Antelope blanket’s physical properties as well as in-depth discussions about its Navajo origin, history, and social life.
August 4–5, 2004
Politics, Practice, and Theory: Repatriation as a Force of Change in Contemporary Anthropology
Chaired by Thomas W. Killion, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Wayne State University
October 18–22, 2004
Establishing Identity: The Social and Political Life of the Chief White Antelope Blanket (Part II)
Chaired by Kathy Whitaker, Director, Indian Arts Research Center, School for Advanced Research
This seminar hosted seven lineal descendants of Chief White Antelope who shared their stories of this legendary chief and their concerns for the future of the blanket and its care.
October 28–29, 2004
Writing Culture Planning Seminar
Co-chaired by Nancy Owen Lewis, Director of Academic Programs, School for Advanced Research and Joanne Mulcahy, Director of the Writing Culture Summer Institute, Northwest Writing Institute, Lewis and Clark College
What is the current state of anthropological writing? How can it be improved, and what can be done to make it accessible to a broader audience? Nine anthropologists, two editors, and a fiction writer sought answers to these questions at the “Writing Culture Planning Seminar” held on October 28 and 29, 2004.