Indigenous communities are today active participants and players in the identification, management, research, interpretation, and preservation of their heritage. The development of the Seminole Tribe of Florida Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) is explored as a case study in the generation of tribal capacity to struggle with the huge number of heritage management questions that challenge native stakeholders. Operating from the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation, the THPO project is a function of Tribal sovereignty. On-reservation, Tribal archaeologists work within Tribal and fede ... More

Indigenous communities are today active participants and players in the identification, management, research, interpretation, and preservation of their heritage. The development of the Seminole Tribe of Florida Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) is explored as a case study in the generation of tribal capacity to struggle with the huge number of heritage management questions that challenge native stakeholders. Operating from the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation, the THPO project is a function of Tribal sovereignty. On-reservation, Tribal archaeologists work within Tribal and federal laws while attempting to redefine archaeology as a community-oriented exercise that empowers indigenous heritage management and relevancy for new generations of Tribal members. Off-reservation, the THPO must engage with federal and state entities across ancestral, aboriginal, and ceded lands that today compose more than nine modern states. This engagement is international in scope when NAGPRA is considered. In South Florida the Tribe is uniquely situated at the center of Everglades Restoration, attempting to insert culture into a dialogue thus far dominated by biologists. The resultant chapters provide a unique perspective that demystifies and demonstrates the diversity of mission lead objectives that characterize the THPO within Tribal government in the twenty-first century.