The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, is landmark civil rights legislation, passed unanimously by Congress in 1990 to restore the rights of Native Americans to ancestral human remains and cultural items. Thirty years later after the passage of NAGPRA, approximately 66,000 ancestors and over 1.5 million cultural items have been repatriated or transferred to lineal descendants or Native American tribes. Despite this progress, human remain of over 120,000 individuals continue to be housed in museums across the country, pending consultation and resolution of the NAGPRA process. In my talk, I will discuss UC Davis’s current efforts to engage in consultation and facilitate the repatriation and disposition process.
