Repatriation in Hawaii: its complexities and challenges

Abstract

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) passed in 1990 by an act of the U.S. Congress. It provides a process for museums and federal agencies to return human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and/or objects of cultural patrimony to Native Americans. This law is an important tool for indigenous peoples in the United States. By empowering them to reclaim the bones of their ancestors and some of their mea kapu (forbidden things) housed in museums across the country, NAGPRA allows native peoples to address the problems of American hegemony and begins the process of righting a series of historical wrongs. But what appears to be a good resolution to the unjust treatment of indigenous peoples has created a problem for Native Hawaiian communities.