The University of California has huge quantities of Indigenous human remains and related objects. Since the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in 1990 and CalNAGPRA in 2001, the process of inventorying and repatriating these items has been going very slowly. One complication has been that many of the holdings have not been associated with federally recognized tribes.

Since 2018 the University has developed a new policy on repatriation that states, “Repatriation or Disposition of all Native American and Native Hawaiian Human Remains and Cultural Items is a fundamental objective and value of UC that must be accomplished as expeditiously and respectfully as possible,” and the pace is finally picking up.

Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Linda Haverty Rugg recently gave a talk on the subject. You can watch the video here, listen to the audio podcast here, or read the transcript here.

Ann Harlow