Code Switch: Archaeological skeletons in the closet
Short Wave
NPR
4.7 • 6.5K Ratings
🗓️ 22 October 2021
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In a small suburb of Washington, D.C., a nondescript beige building houses thousands of Native human remains. The remains are currently in the possession of the Smithsonian Institution, but for the past decade, the Seminole Tribe of Florida has been fighting to get some of them back to Florida to be buried. The controversy over who should decide the fate of these remains has raised questions about identity, history, and the nature of archaeology.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey nerds, I'm Lee Kwong here. |
| 0:02.8 | Today, we've got an episode for you |
| 0:04.9 | from our friends at CodeSwitch. |
| 0:07.4 | In this episode, they look into the fate |
| 0:09.8 | of thousands of human remains, |
| 0:11.9 | currently in the possession of the Smithsonian institution. |
| 0:15.4 | It's a controversy that's raised questions |
| 0:17.5 | about identity, history, and the nature of archaeology itself. |
| 0:22.4 | If you haven't checked out CodeSwitch yet, |
| 0:24.2 | this is your opportunity to start. |
| 0:27.0 | It's a great show, |
| 0:28.8 | and I think you're really gonna like it. |
| 0:31.0 | We'll be back with more shortwave next week. |
| 0:34.0 | All right, here's CodeSwitch. |
| 0:42.6 | I'm Gene Demby, |
| 0:43.6 | and I'm joined this week by my teammate, |
| 0:45.1 | Kumari Deva Rajan. |
| 0:46.0 | She's a producer on the team. |
| 0:47.0 | It was good, Kuku. |
| 0:48.0 | Hey Gene. |
| 0:48.8 | All right Kumari, so I know you have a story for us |
| 0:51.2 | that you've been reporting out for some time. |
... |
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