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NAGPRA Issues in Hawaii, 2024

Coverage of NAGPRA-related topics in Hawaii first came to this website in 2003 when the national NAGPRA review committee decided to devote its national meeting to the Kawaihae (Forbes Cave) controversy. Forbes cave was the most intensively covered topic from 2003 to 2007. But other topics also came to public attention, including Bishop Museum, the Emerson collection repatriated and reburied at Kanupa Cave, the discovery of ancient bones during a major construction project at Ward Center (O'ahu), construction of a house built above burials at the shorefront at Naue, Ha'ena, Kaua'i; etc.

Eventually a "mother page" for NAGPRA issues in Hawaii was created, explaining the dispute between the ethnic Hawaiian activist group Hui Malama i na Kupuna o Hawai'i Nei" headed by Eddie Ayau, which favors repatriation/reburial, vs. some recognized ethnic Hawaiian cultural leaders. For example, Rubellite Kawena Johnson was a claimant opposing Hui Malama for control of the Mokapu bones; Herb Kawainui Kane was a claimant competing against Hui Malama for control of the Forbes Cave artifacts; and both Ms. Johnson and Mr. Kane publicly opposed Hui Malama's assertion that the Providence Museum Spear Rest was a manifestation of the living spirit of a warrior. The mother page provides an overview of these issues and a list of links to all the annual NAGPRA-Hawaii compilations. See
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/nagprahawaii.html

The Forbes cave controversy up until the NAGPRA Review Committee hearing in St. Paul, Minnesota, May 9-11, 2003 was originally described and documented at:
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/nagpraforbes.html

The conflict among Bishop Museum, Hui Malama, and several competing groups of claimants became so complex and contentious that the controversy was the primary focus of the semiannual national meeting of the NAGPRA Review Committee meeting in St. Paul, Minnesota May 9-11, 2003. A webpage was created to cover that meeting and followup events related to it. But the Forbes Cave controversy became increasingly complex and contentious, leading to public awareness of other related issues. By the end of 2004, the webpage focusing on the NAGPRA Review Committee meeting and its aftermath had become exceedingly large, at more than 250 pages with an index of 22 topics at the top. See:
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/nagpraforbesafterreview.html

That large webpage became so difficult to use that it was stopped on December 29, 2004; and a new webpage was created to collect news reports for NAGPRA issues in Hawai'i during year 2005. An index for 2005 appears at the beginning, and readers may then scroll down to find the detailed coverage of each topic. For coverage of NAGPRA issues in Hawai'i in 2005 (about 250 pages), see:
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/nagprahawaii2005.html

For year 2006 another new webpage was created, following the same general format. See:
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/nagprahawaii2006.html

NOW BEGINS YEAR 2024

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LIST OF TOPICS FOR 2024: Full coverage of each topic follows the list; the list is in roughly chronological order of the first occurrence of a topic, created as events unfold during 2023.

(1) New federal rules to implement NAGPRA are forcing many museums to remove or cover native remains or cultural artifacts and and cooperate with tribes to repatriate them. Example of Milwaukee Public Museum. U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, made an impassioned plea on the Senate floor to demand institutions, including colleges and museums, to stop avoiding their responsibilities under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA).

(2) Federal Register notice published February 22, 2024. SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the University of Hawai'i intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The cultural items were removed from a burial cave on the Kona coast of Hawai'i island.

(3) Largest repatriation in Hawaiian history completed with cultural items long held at UC Berkeley. 335 items including 34 called "sacred" by Eddie Ayau and his team.

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FULL TEXT OF ARTICLES FOR 2023

https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2024/02/02/new-federal-rules-may-require-public-museum-to-remove-some-exhibits/
Urban Milwaukee Friday February 2, 2024

New Federal Rules May Require Public Museum to Remove Some Exhibits Regulations require prior consultation with Native American tribes and descendants before items can be exhibited.

By Graham Kilmer

The Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) is reviewing whether it will need to remove or cover some Native American exhibits following new federal regulations that recently went into effect.

In December, the U.S. Department of Interior implemented new rules to achieve the goals of the 1990 Native American Graves and Repatriation Act. Importantly, one of the rules requires museums to “obtain free, prior and informed consent from lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and [Native Hawaiian Organizations]” before exhibiting or researching human remains or cultural items.

“Among the updates we are implementing are critical steps to strengthen the authority and role of Indigenous communities in the repatriation process,” Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said in a statement. “Finalizing these changes is an important part of laying the groundwork for the healing of our people.”

MPM has a number exhibits featuring Native American cultural items and a large inventory of these items in its collections. The museum has the 18th largest inventory of un-repatriated Native American remains in the U.S., according to a database assembled by ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative news organization.

“MPM is thoughtfully reviewing the Native American cultural heritage items currently on display,” the museum said in a statement, “and in the coming weeks, will remove items from view or cover exhibits that do not comply with the latest NAGPRA regulations.” The museum declined to say specifically which items or exhibits could be impacted.

Across the country, museums are removing or covering up Native American exhibits, the New York Times recently reported. The Field Museum in Chicago has covered up a handful of exhibits that the institution believes would fall within the ambit of the new regulations.

The impact on MPM will be relatively small compared to other museums that have had to close entire galleries, a spokesperson told Urban Milwaukee. This is because the museum began consulting with tribes before the new rules came down, the spokesperson said. Among the staff at MPM is a tribal liaison. “MPM has reviewed the new NAGPRA regulations that address the exhibition of specific Native American cultural items and is committed to adhering to those regulations,” the museum said.

In 1993, the museum developed the exhibit “A Tribute to Survival,” which features a rotating contemporary powwow scene. The museum worked with Wisconsin tribal members to create the exhibit. In other areas of the museum, exhibits have been modified in response to tribal requests.

The Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was signed into law in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush. The law recognized the rights of indigenous peoples to human remains, funerary objects, sacred items and objects of cultural significance. It also created a framework for their repatriation back to tribes and lineal descendants.

The new rules strengthen tribal authority in the repatriation process and set an expedited timeline for institutions to consult and update their inventories of human remains and funerary objects. This is an ongoing process for most institutions, including MPM.

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https://nativenewsonline.net/sovereignty/senate-committee-on-indian-affairs-chair-schatz-demands-institutions-to-return-native-remains-and-items-to-tribes
Native News Online Friday February 1, 2024

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Chair Schatz Demands Institutions to Return Native Remains and Items to Tribes

By Levi Rickert

U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, made an impassioned plea on the Senate floor on Thursday afternoon to demand institutions, including colleges and museums, to stop avoiding their responsibilities under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA).

Schatz called out five institutions from various parts of the country that are the top offenders about their delays in repatriating Native American remains. He called out Ohio History Connection, the Illinois State Museum, Harvard University, the University of California, Berkeley, and Indiana University. Together these five institutions have at least 30,000 Native ancestral remains.

Schatz continued, “There are still more than 70 other institutions holding almost 58,000 ancestral remains. And that’s not counting the additional hundreds of thousands of cultural items in their collections. These are supposedly liberal institutions who have no problem parroting whatever progressive expression is in vogue. And yet at the same time, they continue a colonial project against the explicit and repeated wishes of Native people. If you say you’re for equal justice, for doing right by people of all backgrounds, then act like it. Return these remains and items to the Native people they belonged to all along.”

Chair Schatz has been leading efforts in the Senate on NAGPRA compliance. In February 2022, he led an oversight hearing,
https://www.indian.senate.gov/newsroom/press-release/democratic/schatz-leads-oversight-hearing-native-american-graves-protection-and-repatriation/
and last April, he led a bipartisan group of senators in urging colleges and museums that possess the largest known amounts of ancestral remains and cultural items to expeditiously return them to their home communities.

“For centuries, Native people had everything stolen from them – their lands, their water, their languages, and even their children. It wasn’t that long ago that it was the official policy of the United States government to terminate the existence of tribes and forcibly assimilate their citizens. And a big part of that unrelenting, inhumane policy was that the remains of Native ancestors and culturally significant items were also taken from them. Not with permission, but by force,”

NAGPRA was passed by Congress in 1990 and signed into law by then President George H.W. Bush that required museums and universities to quickly return the remains and items they were holding that belonged to Native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives, and American Indians.

Schatz said 34 years later, it’s nowhere near close to being done. In fact, experts recently estimated that at the current rate, it may take up to 70 years to complete the process.”

The full text of the senator’s remarks as prepared for delivery can be found below. Video is available here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOKqEfzdxRk

For centuries, Native people had everything stolen from them – their lands, their water, their languages, and even their children. It wasn’t that long ago that it was the official policy of the United States government to terminate the existence of tribes and forcibly assimilate their citizens. And a big part of that unrelenting, inhumane policy was that the remains of Native ancestors and culturally significant items were also taken from them. Not with permission, but by force. Not discovered, but stolen. On battlefields and in cemeteries, under the cover of darkness or the guise of academic research.

Think about that. The U.S. government literally stole people’s bones. Soldiers and agents overturned graves and took whatever they could find. And these weren’t isolated incidents – they happened all across the country. In my home state of Hawai‘i, the remains of Native Hawaiians – or iwi kūpuna as they’re called – were routinely pillaged without any regard for the sanctity of the burials or Native Hawaiian culture.

And all of it was brought to some of the most venerable institutions – at home and abroad -- to be studied like biological specimens…displayed in museum exhibits as if they’re paintings on loan…or squirreled away in a professor’s office closet, never to be seen again.

The theft of hundreds of thousands of remains and items over generations was unconscionable in and of itself. But the legacy of that cruelty continues to this day because these museums and universities continue to hold onto these sacred items in violation of everything that is right and moral – and importantly, in violation of federal law.

To remedy this injustice, Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, in 1990. It required museums and universities to quickly return the remains and items they were holding that belonged to Native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives, and American Indians.

And at the time, the Congressional Budget Office anticipated that it would take about 5 years to complete the process of repatriation. But 34 years later, it’s nowhere near close to being done. In fact, experts recently estimated that at the current rate, it may take up to 70 years to complete the process.

Why? Because these institutions – all otherwise well-respected and sought-after – have done everything in their power to obstruct and obfuscate when confronted about their collections. They act as if it’s some sort of impossible task, either administratively or in determining the lineage or provenance of an item. They purposely miscategorize items as quote-unquote “culturally unidentifiable.”

They engage with Native communities as little as possible. They quote-unquote “borrow” collections from one another so they can never actually be held responsible for them. And maybe the most outrageous of all the excuses, they claim tribes and Native groups lack the ability to take care of their own things. Lack the ability to take care of their own things.

It smells of the worst kind of colonialism with a thin veneer of progressive verbiage. University provosts and presidents can do all the land acknowledgements they want. They can post lengthy statements about equity on their websites and champion any number of progressive causes. But all of that rings pretty darn hollow if they’re at the same time clinging onto vast collections of stolen items because of a perverse, patronizing sense of ownership.

This is in no way morally ambiguous. There’s nothing to ponder here. The fact is: these items do not belong in museums and universities or to science and academia. They belong to the Native people from which they came. Which is why the Committee on Indian Affairs, which I chair, held an oversight hearing on this issue almost two years ago and demanded explanations from the foremost offenders about their delays in repatriating these items. They’re located all over the country: Ohio History Connection; the Illinois State Museum; Harvard University; the University of California, Berkeley; and Indiana University. Together, these 5 institutions still hold at least 30,000 Native ancestral remains. 30,000.

These institutions have been responsive and many have accelerated their repatriation efforts since. Earlier this month, Harvard, which has the third largest collection of these items in the country, pledged to cover travel expenses for Native leaders to facilitate the repatriation process. Other museums, including the American Museum of Natural History and the Field Museum, have also recently announced steps to finally comply with NAGPRA.

And yet, there are still more than 70 other institutions holding almost 58,000 ancestral remains. And that’s not counting the additional hundreds of thousands of cultural items in their collections. These museums and universities are everywhere:

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
The University of Kentucky
The University of Alabama
The University of Arizona
The University of Florida
The University of Missouri, Columbia
The University of Oklahoma
The Center for American Archaeology in Illinois
The University of Texas at Austin
The Milwaukee Public Museum

And so on. That’s just a small sample – and I will enter the full list into the record.

But the point is: this work is far from over. These are supposedly liberal institutions who have no problem parroting whatever progressive expression is in vogue. And yet at the same time, they continue a colonial project against the explicit and repeated wishes of Native people. If you say you’re for equal justice…for doing right by people of all backgrounds…then act like it. Return these remains and items to the Native people they belonged to all along.

Some of the challenges when it comes to addressing past injustices in American history can seem so big as to be totally overwhelming. Where do you start? This is not one of them. Returning these items matters, and the good news is, it’s imminently doable. But doable only if we collectively agree that getting this right is a necessary condition for justice to be restored.

Doing this alone will not right past wrongs or somehow erase a long and brutal history of injustice. Of course it won’t. Native people still need money for water and electricity. They still need resources for healthcare. And as ever, they still need the unimpeded right to self-determination.

But the least we can do – the least we can do – is enable them to tell their own stories. And to define themselves, for themselves, and to the rest of the world. Give the items back. Comply with federal law. Hurry. Devote resources to this. Demonstrate in three dimensions that you care about the values that you espouse.

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13367Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 36 / Thursday, February 22, 2024 / Notices
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037409; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]

Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: University of Hawai'i, Hawai'i
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the University of Hawai'i intends to repatriate certain cultural items that
[[Page 13368]]
meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The cultural items were removed from a burial cave on the Kona coast of Hawai'i island.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on or after March 25, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Jonathan Osorio, Dean of Hawai'inuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, University of Hawai'i-Manoa, 2540 Maile Way, HI 96822, telephone (808) 956-0980, email osorio@hawaii.edu.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA. The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the University of Hawai'i. The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice. Additional information on the determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in the summary or related records held by the University of Hawai'i.

Description

Two burial kapa (bark cloth) were recently discovered within numbered editions of a book entitled Specimens of Hawaiian Kapa Vol I by D.R. Severson within the UH Library system. One edition, No. 20, 2 was found in the UH-Manoa (UHM) Hamilton Library, GN432.S37, while the other edition, No. 28, was found in the UH-Hilo Mo'okini Library, GN432.S37. All respective numbered editions of the book (No.'s 1 to 95) were published by Severson in 1979, with No.'s 1-50 including samples of burial kapa. UH Manoa acquired a copy (No. 20) in the same year it was published; UH Hilo received a donation of a copy (No. 28) in 2019. Each book contained actual kapa samples that Severson had gathered over the years from various notable collections and individuals; however, the burial kapa was from Severson's personal collection. The only detail regarding their acquisition indicates that they were acquired from burial caves on the Kona Coast of Hawai'i Island. There is no way to determine if they were illicitly acquired or not. As the book contains traditional Hawaiian kapa acquired during the 19th century, its assumed that the burial kapa may have also likely been acquired during the same time period. Its further unknown if these burial kapa were exclusively made for burial or if they were personal belongings of the deceased.

Cultural Affiliation

A detailed assessment of the unassociated funerary objects was made by UH staff in consultation with representatives of Hui Iwi Kuamo'o and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA). There is a relationship of shared group identity that can reasonably be traced between the unassociated funerary object and present-day Native Hawaiian organizations listed in this notice. The following types of information were used to reasonably trace the relationship: anthropological information, historical information, and expert opinion.

Determinations

Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, the University of Hawai'i has determined that: The two cultural items described above are reasonably believed to have been placed with or near individual human remains at the time of death or later as part of the death rite or ceremony and are believed, by a preponderance of the evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a Native American individual. There is a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the Hui Iwi Kuamo'o.

Requests for Repatriation

Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items in this notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation may be submitted by any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice who shows, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the requestor is a lineal descendant or a culturally affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.

Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after March 25, 2024. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the University of Hawai'i must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the cultural items are considered a single request and not competing requests. The University of Hawai'i is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice.

This notice was submitted before the effective date of the revised regulations (88 FR 86452, December 13, 2023, effective January 12, 2024). As the notice conforms to the mandatory format of the Federal Register and includes the required information, the National Park Service is publishing this notice as submitted.

Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3004, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.

Dated: February 9, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-03576 Filed 2-21-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P

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(3) Largest repatriation in Hawaiian history completed with cultural items long held at UC Berkeley. 335 items including 34 called "sacred" by Eddie Ayau and his team. https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/04/29/largest-repatriation-in-hawaiian-history-completed-with-cultural-items-long-held-at-uc-berkeley
Berkeley News Monday April 29, 2024

Largest repatriation in Hawaiian history completed with cultural items long held at UC Berkeley

"It was really refreshing to see humans trying to be the best they can be in this situation," said Mana Cáceres, a Native Hawaiian who works on repatriation cases around the world and helped facilitate the one with UC Berkeley.

By Jason Pohl

** Photo caption: Halealoha Ayau (left) and Mana Cáceres (Hui Iwi Kuamoʻo) admired the craftsmanship of an 'umeke nui (large calabash) before it was transported to Hawaii. The object was among more than 300 that UC Berkeley recently repatriated to Native Hawaiians.
Courtesy of Dane Uluwehi Maxwell

Stored for decades at UC Berkeley, 335 items — 34 of them sacred objects — now are back in Hawaii after a collaboration between Native Hawaiians and the campus. Native Hawaiians said the effort demonstrates how significantly repatriation processes have improved, signaling a more positive chapter in museums returning ancestors and objects to their Indigenous homelands.

The recently-repatriated sacred objects, which had been kept at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, included an `opu`u (pendant), `umeke (bowl), `ihe (spear), lei niho palaoa (human hair necklaces with whale tooth pendants), lei lauoho (human hair necklaces) and lei hulu (feather necklaces).

An additional 301 objects were voluntarily deaccessioned, removed from the museum’s holdings, in recognition of their significant cultural importance to Native Hawaiians.

Combined, this is believed to have been the largest single repatriation of cultural items in Hawaiian history.

"It was really refreshing to work with people who recognize the healing that could be done for everybody in the room — not just on our side," said Mana Cáceres, a Native Hawaiian repatriation specialist who works around the world to return ancestral remains and objects to the islands. "It was really refreshing to see humans trying to be the best they can be in this situation."

The repatriation also marks a milestone for Berkeley, which is working to correct decades of wrongs perpetrated against Indigenous groups. The process could foreshadow a more collaborative future for Indigenous people, who often face resistance on the frontlines of repatriation and encounter pushback from museums holding sacred objects, said Kalehua Cáceres, Mana Cáceres's wife and repatriation colleague. "I felt comfortable, and I've never felt comfortable in a museum," she said of her visit to Berkeley to inspect objects in the collection. "Not just comfortable, but welcomed into the space."

It hasn't always been that way. During decades of unethical and harmful anthropological practices, the museum — which was moved to UC Berkeley's campus in 1931 and later renamed after Phoebe A. Hearst — amassed a vast collection of sacred objects and human remains from tribes, indigenous nations and peoples around the world.

Laws passed more than 30 years ago, including California's version of the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), require universities to protect and return Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony.

But that process has long been plagued by delays and legal challenges. For example, in the 1990s, former Berkeley faculty curators and attorneys opposed the return of ancestral remains to Native Hawaiians. After impassioned testimony and evidence presented by the Native Hawaiian delegation, the National NAGPRA Review Committee recommended the Hearst Museum to return ancestral remains to Native Hawaiian organizations.

That history was top of mind for Edward Halealoha Ayau when, three decades later, his Native Hawaiian team of people working on repatriation projects in Hawaii contacted the campus. He has advocated for and conducted the repatriation of ancestral Hawaiian skeletal remains and funerary objects for over three decades.

Ayau, who goes by the name Halealoha, said the recent repatriation with Berkeley was a marked improvement in how Native Hawaiians were consulted and respected by campus leaders. "We were finally heard as Indigenous human beings," he said.

Berkeley officials are conscious of the long shadow cast by exploitative researchers and the conflicts between Indigenous communities and academic institutions. Simply put, there's a long way to go, said Sabrina Agarwal, professor and chair of the campus’s anthropology department and a special adviser to the chancellor on issues of repatriation. "But we hope that this is a demonstration of our commitment, that it's something that we're willing to work at as long as we need to in order to acknowledge the harm that we've done," Agarwal said. "And really, that we're trying to find ways to begin to repair those relationships." Researching Hawaii's history from 2,300 miles away

Mana and Kalehua Cáceres refer to themselves as being "responsible moʻopuna," or grandchildren of their elders. Through their work, they're paying respects to Hawaiian ancestors and also teaching their grandchildren how to care for their own remains and belongings. The couple has a family-owned consulting business in Hawaii that trains and provides cultural monitors for land owners and development projects there. Kalehua is also a preschool administrator.

Long involved in issues involving Native Hawaiian rights, the pair began studying under Halealoha several years ago. They are in a class of a half-dozen students who are learning the important, yet cumbersome, processes for repatriating Native Hawaiian human remains and sacred objects held at museums around the world. It was a process Halealoha had led for years. Lately, he's been teaching the next generation of Hawaiian repatriation practitioners.

People like Mana and Kalehua Cáceres. In recent years, they've traveled to London and Scotland to receive sacred items and the remains of their ancestors. Often, Mana Cáceres said, it felt like they were coming in at the "end of the story" that Halealoha had spent decades writing. As part of the class, Halealoha tasked his student team to review the Hearst Museum's online archive. Item by item, the classmates filled in a spreadsheet and described the items that they considered sacred and ceremonial.

In early 2023, the team contacted Berkeley officials with its request. A series of Zoom meetings followed through the spring, often with campus repatriation staff moving through the collection and archives, using an iPad to show objects to the repatriation team 2,300 miles away. While Zoom eased the research process, spending time with a collection is still essential, Mana Cáceres said. When they walked into the museum last year, the team members could examine the entire collection that spans islands throughout the Pacific. "Just the number (of objects) alone was staggering," he said. 'Everything was put back where it was supposed to be'

Alexandra Lucas, who oversees Berkeley’s repatriation program, ensured the Native Hawaiian team was able to inspect the collection held on campus. When the team from Hawaii arrived for a few days in November, she and her team helped them navigate the secure storage areas in the museum's vast collection. And on moving day later that month, Lucas accompanied the nine carefully-packed wooden crates in the middle of the night on their journey from the museum to the staging warehouse and, ultimately, San Francisco International Airport. She snapped photos on her phone as the items were loaded onto the plane for the Hawaiian repatriation team, and she accompanied them on the six-hour flight to Honolulu.

Lucas has worked with museums and collections around the world. Being able to assist the Native Hawaiian organizations was something she said she'll never forget. "It was profound," she said. "A lot of the cultural belongings that we repatriate are so spiritually imbued, or have some sort of spirit for themselves, that it's a real honor to be able to assist in this process."

Mana Cáceres described a calm rejoicing among the Native Hawaiians who received the crates. "It just seemed like the day was a little bit brighter," he said. "Everything just seemed like everything was put back where it was supposed to be. The world just felt like it was in a more natural state." Over the past several months, Native Hawaiians have examined the items and worked to return them to locations throughout the islands. Among the objects were centuries-old games, including 'ulu maika, an ancient Hawaiian sport akin to bowling.

Kalehua Cáceres hopes to incorporate some of the objects into lessons with her preschoolers. She said putting those ancestral games in the hands of a child and restoring their function will remind people of the objects’ "living culture." "And that we don't need to go to museums,” she said, “to understand who we are."

Campus staff involved in the effort agree, reiterating that it represents a culture shift in how Berkeley views items of cultural heritage and significance. It shouldn't take laws for people to do what's right, they said. "This represents not us doing the minimum legal obligation. That's the floor," Agarwal said. "It represents us thinking about how we can really expand to think about whose cultural heritage something is. They can define what's theirs and what needs to be returned."

Everyone is better off when that's the approach, Halealoha agreed. "There was an unspoken understanding for reconciliation, to which all participants worked to achieve," he said. "This achievement led to a shared humanity of sorts and the respectful return of several Hawaiian cultural items. For us, this was the most important lesson."

Mana Cáceres wants universities, museums and other institutions in possession of Indigenous remains and objects to remember that repatriation efforts shouldn't be adversarial.

"I think the greatest takeaway that I would hope would come from this would be that other universities and other institutions would read (about this effort) and decide to be brave, because that's what Berkeley did," Mana Cáceres said. "What we did wasn't the norm. But it should be. And it can be. It just takes people to be in positions of authority to kind of be brave enough to say, 'This is what's right, and this is what we're going to do.' "When you've got people who are brave, anything can happen."

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LINKS

This present webpage covers only the year 2024.

For coverage of events in 2005 (about 250 pages), see:

https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/nagprahawaii2005.html

For year 2006 (about 150 pages), see:
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/nagprahawaii2006.html

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Send comments or questions to:
Ken_Conklin@yahoo.com

GO BACK TO: NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) as applied to Hawai'i -- Mokapu, Honokahua, Bishop Museum Ka'ai; Providence Museum Spear Rest; Forbes Cave Artifacts; the Hui Malama organization

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