A POISONED PAST AND CONTAMINATED PRESENT: Challenges for Indigenous Communities Bringing their Cultural Heritage Home

Abstract

The 2023 Bantz-Petronio Translating Research into Practice Faculty Award recipient is Holly Cusack-McVeigh, Ph.D. Dr. Cusack-McVeigh is an associate professor of Anthropology and Museum Studies and Public Scholar of Collections and Community Curation in the IU School of Liberal Arts with an appointment in the Native American & Indigenous Studies Program. Her scholarly research is deeply grounded in social justice and centered in an interdisciplinary, community-based collaborative approach to address real-world issues. The goal of her translational research is to forge connections and foster lasting community partnerships that bring about greater cultural understanding and social change in local, national, and international communities. Dr. Cusack-McVeigh and her research team work on toxic museum collections and the repatriation of Indigenous cultural heritage artifacts.