In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part I)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "In Search of Solutions: Exploring Pathways to Repatriation for NAGPRA Practitioners (Part I)" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Now in its fourth decade, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) remains one of the most important legislative acts shaping the discipline of archaeology today. To adequately discuss the range of topics and provide examples and case studies incorporating shifting discourses of repatriation, policies, and collections management concerning Ancestors and their belongings subject to NAGPRA, the Committee on Museums, Collections, and Curation and the Curation Interest group have arranged a five-part series. Practitioners across the discipline work to respectfully return the Ancestors and cultural heritage of Indigenous nations, tribes, and communities, often without specialized training, and frequently without sufficient financial, administrative, or political institutional support. Collections professionals, especially, are expected to become instant NAGPRA experts, simply because their day is spent in curation spaces within which Ancestors and their belongings reside. Collections professionals contend with institutional pressure balanced against the importance of carrying out the law in a respectful manner, attempting to mitigate further trauma to Indigenous Peoples, and they must do so, often, while learning the law themselves. This session discusses past experiences of current practitioners, highlights challenges, and offers potential solutions to those and similar challenges that new and existing practitioners alike may face.