NAGPRA: A Look Back Through the Litigation

Abstract

Native Americans hold a remarkable place in America’s past. Beyond the genocide, treaty violations, and land theft, over the past few centuries, the United States has also stolen much of Native Americans’ culture. It has only been in recent decades that we have begun to see both a recognition of this relationship and an attempt to, if not rectify, more actively acknowledge what has been taken from Native peoples. In the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Congress passed a law designed to return the cultural objects stolen from Native Americans and create a system of protection from future thefts. Opening an entirely different series of dialogues between Native Americans and museum curators, archaeologists, and collectors, NAGPRA marks a new era in the history of Native Americans in America. This article provides a backdrop for NAGPRA through a brief history of Native America and Native Americans’ relationship with social scientists, museums, and collectors. Moving through the various political actions leading up to the creation of NAGPRA and the provisions of the law itself, the article focuses on the current controversies and problems in the law through a synopsis of the major litigation. Ending with a brief analysis of the Kennewick man case, this article concludes that while NAGPRA is a milestone in the Native American struggle to gain back their stolen culture, the law alone is not enough.

Keywords: Native America, Native American, Indian tribe, Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, NAGPRA, museums, collections, archaeology, litigation, Kennewick man