ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the California native community members in archaeological methods and theories to empower them during the cultural resources process. Although the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) cite preservation and protection in their titles, in actuality the federal agencies are only directed 'to assess the impact and, to the extent feasible, mitigate the adverse effect'. Also known as compliance archaeology, cultural resources management (CRM) is a process that evaluates, protects, and manages the remnants of human activity upon the landscape. Scholars have previously documented that communication between Native Americans and archaeologists has been hindered by the continued use of colonial language, words used to describe the cultural phenomena that do not reflect or acknowledge indigenous perspectives. Capacity building occurs when the Native American community members use skills and techniques learned from outside sources to solve problems internally.
