What Does Indigenous Repatriation Sound Like?

What Does Indigenous Repatriation Sound Like?
An Example from the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office

Dr. Hannah McElgunn, Queen’s University

Thursday, December 1st
2:30 pm – 4:00 pm

Conron Hall, UC3110
Reception to follow.


In 1990, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) established a process by which federally-recognized Tribes in the United States could reclaim materials, ancestors, and belongings held in museums and other repositories. Despite concerns from museum and preservation specialists that NAGPRA would sever relationships, Indigenous communities and museums have in fact become ever more entangled through the repatriation process. These actors that are drawn together, however, often have competing understandings of knowledge and property. This presentation considers how understandings of these concepts – as well as notions of belonging and relationality – are reconfigured through repatriation encounters. In particular, McElgunn pays attention to how a Hop cultural advisory board talks about reclamation. McElgunn asks: What does repatriation sound like and what can we learn about repatriation by listening to how it is voiced?

Hosted by the Department of Anthropology with kind support from the Social Science Student Donation Fund