ABSTRACT
This volume brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous repatriation practitioners and researchers to provide the reader with an international overview of the removal and return of Ancestral Remains.
The Ancestral Remains of Indigenous peoples are today housed in museums and other collecting institutions globally. They were taken from anywhere the deceased can be found, and their removal occurred within a context of deep power imbalance within a colonial project that had a lasting effect on Indigenous peoples worldwide. Through the efforts of First Nations campaigners, many have returned home. However, a large number are still retained. In many countries, the repatriation issue has driven a profound change in the relationship between Indigenous peoples and collecting institutions. It has enabled significant steps towards resetting this relationship from one constrained by colonisation to one that seeks a more just, dignified and truthful basis for interaction. The history of repatriation is one of Indigenous perseverance and success. The authors of this book contribute major new work and explore new facets of this global movement. They reflect on nearly 40 years of repatriation, its meaning and value, impact and effect.
This book is an invaluable contribution to repatriation practice and research, providing a wealth of new knowledge to readers with interests in Indigenous histories, self-determination and the relationship between collecting institutions and Indigenous peoples.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part 1|272 pages
A global movement
chapter 2|19 pages
Saahlinda Naay – saving things house
chapter 7|18 pages
Ngarrindjeri repatriation
chapter 9|20 pages
Restitution policies in Argentina
chapter 12|21 pages
Paradoxes and prospects of repatriation to the Ainu
chapter 13|18 pages
When the living forget the dead
part 2|245 pages
Networks of removal
chapter 15|21 pages
Russia and the pacific
chapter 16|19 pages
Missionaries and the removal, illegal export, and return of Ancestral Remains
chapter 17|26 pages
‘Under The Hammer’
chapter 18|20 pages
Profit and loss
chapter 19|19 pages
‘Inhuman and Very Mischievous Traffic’
chapter 20|13 pages
Uses and abuses
chapter 26|13 pages
Theorising race and evolution
chapter 27|24 pages
Navigating the nineteenth century collecting network
part 3|203 pages
Repatriation methods in research and practice
chapter 30|19 pages
Provenance research and historical sources for understanding Nineteenth-century scientific interest in Indigenous human remains
chapter 31|5 pages
Cultural protocols in repatriation
chapter 32|22 pages
‘Australian Aborigine Skulls in a Loft in Birmingham, It Seems a Weird Thing’
chapter 33|15 pages
Recovered
chapter 34|12 pages
Genomic testing of ancient DNA
chapter 39|13 pages
Sharing reflections on repatriation
chapter 40|13 pages
The return of Ancestral Remains from the natural history Museum, London, to Torres strait Islander traditional owners
chapter 41|10 pages
The repatriation of Ancestral Human Remains from The Natural History Museum, London to Torres Strait Islander traditional owners
chapter 42|23 pages
Two eagles and Jim Crow
part 4|218 pages
Restoring dignity