route to New York . . . an act of sacking of cul- tural patrimony of a Latin American nation.” From the years 2000 to 2012, Cuban schol-
ars visited NMAI’s Museum in D.C. and its Cultural Resources Center, the Museum’s su- perlative research and storage facility in Suit- land, Maryland, multiple times, consistently inspecting, measuring and photographing the statue. In November 2012, Museum Direc- tor Kevin Gover received a request from the Cuban Foundation for Nature and Humanity (Fundacion Nacional Antonio Nuñez Jimenez de la Naturaleza y el Hombre) to start “a dialogue” and a possible “repatriation” of the “Patana Idol.” While this particular message lacked the international formality of govern- ment, it provided a reminder of the trajectory of the controversial petroglyph. The message cited transcripts of a taped dialogue with resi- dents from the community, including grand- children of the Indian men who helped Har- rington serrate and remove the statue. These descendants wanted to attest to the cemi’s symbolic and spiritual value to community. The foundation’s letter recalled the visit of
then Museum Director Richard West Jr. to its headquarters in June 2002, when he person- ally delivered a set of human remains to be returned to the eastern Cuban mountains. Cuban Indian Cacique Francisco Ramirez Rojas (Panchito) officiated at the burial of the remains. The letter expressed respect for the sensibility of the NMAI to the concerns of the community on that occasion. Nevertheless, the foundation indicated that it would con- tinue to make the case for the return of the Idol of Patana and noted that “inhabitants of the zone” also desired it. “Stewardship rather than ownership is
the Museum’s approach to the care of its col- lections,” says NMAI Director Kevin Gover. “We invite inquiries and dialogue. Repatria- tion is central to our mission and we recog- nize that Native peoples have an absolute interest in the provenance, care and dispo- sition of collections associated with their respective communities.” Today, the Idol of Patana rests in the bot-
tom drawer of a huge wall of large drawers in the Cultural Resources Center. He is well conserved and treated with both scientific and cultural respect. Recognizably, however, he is far from his place of origin, where his existence had a distinct geographical and spiritual meaning. X
José Barreiro, Smithsonian Scholar Emeritus, is a member of the Taíno Nation of the Antilles. He is co-curator of the NMAI exhibition, “Taino: Native Heritage and Identity in the Caribbean.”
THE TAÍNO MOVEMENT
Historians had believed that the Taíno people vanished shortly after European colonization in the Greater Antilles. Yet, in the past four decades, increasing numbers of families have affirmed their Native ancestry and identified as Taíno. This movement has spurred a regen- eration of Indigenous identity within the racially mixed and culturally blended societies of Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, as well as other areas of the Caribbean. In the exhibition “Taíno: Native Heritage and Identity in the Caribbean” featured at NMAI-NY, visitors can explore the rural roots of the Taíno movement and find infor- mation about the legacy of Native peoples throughout the Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands and their U.S. diasporas. The exhibition is in English and Spanish and will be open until October 2019. Visit
AmericanIndian.si.edu.
Top left: Native leaders ritually exchanged small shell (top, conch, Puerto Rico) or stone (bottom, sandstone, Puerto Rico) masks called “guaizas” to fortify relationships between their communities. NMAI 3/1922, NMAI 23/6097. Top right: Taíno rock carvings such as this one from Puerto Rico are found across the Caribbean, particularly in caves or old “bateyes” (ceremonial plazas or ballcourts). NMAI 15/880. Above. “Duhos,” or seats such as this one from the Dominican Republic, were made of wood or stone and were reserved for important leaders, spiritual advisors or healers. NMAI 14/2434
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 21
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