Indigenous repatriation: The rise of the global legal movement

Abstract

The return of human remains and cultural property to their Indigenous nations of origin is today a global phenomenon, but such has not always been the case. The seeds of the Indigenous repatriation movement were planted in the 19th and early 20th centuries with the formalisation of law related to the acquisition and possession of art and antiquities and the franchisement of Indigenous peoples in the dominant legal cultures of their respective countries. Efforts by Indigenous communities to repatriate human remains and cultural property in the 19th and early 20th century were disparate, isolated appeals to individual museums or the courts and the results were mixed. Starting in the 1980s, Indigenous groups in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States increased the number and scope of their repatriation requests and expanded their efforts by working collaboratively with Indigenous groups and professional associations across national borders. Since 1989, these efforts precipitated a florescence of national and international legislative and policy reforms that have opened the door to efforts by other Indigenous groups.