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Deep Dive: What Was Ours (2016)

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What Was Ours
What Was Ours focuses on the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. The film follows a young journalist and a teenage powwow princess from the Arapaho tribe as they team up with a Shoshone elder to search for lost artifacts at Chicago’s Field Museum. This search for ancestral objects brings to light the tribes' struggles with their material history and culture, which they do not control. The film addresses the emotional impact of reconnecting with lost artifacts, presenting both the potential for healing and the risk of reopening old wounds. Through their journey, the characters confront the significance of repatriation and the importance of reclaiming their heritage, setting a hopeful tone for the future of their communities.

Why Watch

  • •Follow the Arapaho tribe's search for lost artifacts.
  • •Meet a Shoshone elder sharing cultural history.
  • •Find out about repatriation efforts for Native American artifacts.

Did You Know

•The film was released in 2016 and has a duration of 79 minutes.
•The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes live on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming.
•The characters discover a trove of ancestral objects at Chicago’s Field Museum.

Perfect For

Native American historyCultural repatriationArtifact recovery