In 1990, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was enacted to require museums and institutions to return human remains, funerary objects, and sacred items to tribes. However, progress was slow due to bureaucratic obstacles and resistance. In January, new regulations were implemented to enforce the law, giving institutions a five-year deadline to prepare items for repatriation and granting more authority to tribes in the process.
The new regulations emphasize the importance of Native traditional knowledge in decision-making processes, challenging the conventional academic approach that often overlooks oral history. Museums are now seeking tribal consent before displaying artifacts and responding to demands for repatriation.
Major institutions like the American Museum of Natural History are closing exhibits of Native American objects to comply with the regulations. Other museums, including the Field Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, are also taking similar actions.
Many of the items in museum collections were acquired through unethical means such as grave robbing and looting of Indigenous burial grounds. The repatriation of human remains, in particular, is a significant and overdue task, with thousands of Native individuals still awaiting return to their tribes.
The new regulations allow for extensions to deadlines with tribal agreement, balancing accountability for institutions without overwhelming tribes. The focus is on restoring dignity to Native ancestors and bringing healing and closure to communities.
Myra Masiel-Zamora, an archaeologist and curator, expressed hope that the repatriation process would be a conversation rather than a fight, signaling a positive shift in the relationship between museums and tribes.
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