Geneva museum returns sacred objects to Haudenosaunee Confederacy

Swiss museum returning Indigenous artifacts A museum in Switzerland has returned two sacred objects taken without consent nearly two centuries ago.

A museum in Switzerland has returned two sacred objects that were taken without consent nearly two centuries ago from the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) confederacy this month.

The Haudenosaunee External Relations Committee asked the Geneva Museum of Ethnography (MEG) to return a mask and rattle that were displayed in the museum's "Archive of Human Diversity" exhibit.

"We want [...] this mask and rattle to come back to us so that they can be properly cared for [...]. We have an obligation to them that we have not been able to fulfill for 200 years, so we have a responsibility to do everything we can to end this separation from our community," said Tuscarora Brennen Ferguson, a member of the committee. "We have a responsibility to bring them back."

The mask and rattle were spotted in 2022 and someone from the committee notified the museum that it was sacred and should not be on the wall.

"The museum cooperated immediately and decided to take it down, and we had a ceremony to take the mask down and we put it away," said Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) committee member Kenneth Deer.

The museum, city of Geneva and Haudenosaunee committee then arranged for a ceremony on Feb. 7 to give the items back so they could be returned to their traditional territory.

The museum said in a news release that it considers the Haudenosaunee the traditional owners of the mask and rattle, that the items have "cultural value that makes them unsuitable for exhibition," and that they have a cultural value that "ensures the well-being of the Haudenosaunee."

"The restitutions and returns are not an end in themselves. It is a step in a very long process that will continue through regular exchanges and collaborations. We plan to dedicate a section of our 2024 temporary exhibition to retracing the biography of these two sacred objects and more broadly to reaffirming the self-determination of the Haudenosaunee confederacy," said MEG director Carine Ayélé Durand.

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is made up of six nations on both sides of the American and Canadian border: the Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk), Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Tuscarora, and Seneca.

The confederacy has worked for almost three decades to repatriate human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and other cultural or historic artifacts of importance.

Deer said hundreds of masks have been returned to the confederacy since the policy has been in place.

Medicine masks, such as the one returned this month, are considered living beings to the Haudenosaunee. If someone finds themselves in possession of a mask or other object of cultural importance, they are asked to contact the confederacy or other nation to learn how to return it, Deer said.

Deer said the committee was very impressed at the speed with which the museum arranged for the items to be returned - a short seven months. Some museums, he said, are very protective of their material and attach conditions to any return of objects.

"There are all kinds of stories where it takes years and years just to get material back from a museum even when it's in the same country," he said. "In this case, we had the cooperation of the museum and the city and the Swiss government gave us an export permit."

The MEG's example is one to follow, Deer added.

"The first part is the willingness to return Indigenous human remains and sacred items," he said. "They [museums] should really have a clear policy on that, so when Indigenous people approach them and ask them, it should be a very quick process to release it... Also not to place conditions on release."

"If you're returning it to us, we'll decide on what condition and how we will store or use these items because they're our items. You have no business telling us how to take care of our material."

The city of Geneva has a long history with the confederacy.

Cayuga chief Deskaheh visited Geneva in 1923 and 1924, travelling on a passport issued by the traditional council at the time. He was refused the right to address the League of Nations (the precursor to the United Nations) on behalf as a member of a sovereign nation. He was welcomed by the mayor of Geneva at the time.