Skylar Begay
Joshua Watts
In 2021, the Tucson-based nonprofit Archaeology Southwest (ASW) adopted its Model for Tribal Collaboration, which guides the organization in its efforts to partner with Tribal Nations across all program areas. The collaboration model was published as an ASW position paper, and is available at https://bit.ly/3JhENRV. Before developing that model, work at ASW largely focused on its core mission of archaeological research, site preservation, and public outreach/education. Since then, the organization has delved deeply into the ethical management of archaeological data in the online database web application cyberSW.org (“cyber Southwest”) while working closely with a Tribal advisory group. This effort also led to the development of a Digital Indigenous Field Guide concept (focused on Cultural Keystone Species of plants and animals) in partnership with an Indigenous researcher and the Gila River Indian Community. Now, the organization seeks to deepen its commitment to collaboration with Tribes by adopting Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles into its mission and day to day operations. This presentation will focus on the effort to develop a new position paper authored by ASW staff, including Indigenous and non-Indigenous archaeologists, that will complement the Model for Tribal Collaboration and guide the organization in its effort to align itself with Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles.