Accomplishing NAGPRA: Perspectives on the Intent, Impact, and Future of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (First Peoples)

Accomplishing NAGPRA reveals the day-to-day reality of implementing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The diverse contributors to this timely volume reflect the viewpoints of tribes, museums, federal agencies, attorneys, academics, and others invested in the landmark act.

NAGPRA requires museums and federal agencies to return requested Native American cultural items to lineal descendants, culturally affiliated Indian tribes, and Native Hawai’ian organizations.  Since the 1990 passage of the act, museums and federal agencies have made more than one million cultural items—and the remains of nearly forty thousand Native Americans—available for repatriation.

Drawing on case studies, personal reflections, historical documents, and statistics, the volume examines NAGPRA and its grassroots, practical application throughout the United States.? Accomplishing NAGPRA will appeal to professionals and academics with an interest in cultural resource management, Indian and human rights law, Indigenous studies, social justice movements, and public policy.

Sangita Chari was the grants coordinator for the national NAGPRA program from 2008 to 2012, managing a $2 million grants program and coordinating national training events, such as NAGPRA at 20: Conversations about the Past, Present, and Future of NAGPRA. She has worked in the human rights and social service fields for more than twenty years. Currently, she serves as a special assistant to the Associate Director for Workforce, Relevance and Inclusion at the National Park Service. Sangita holds a BA in  International Relations and Anthropology from American University and an MA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Florida.

Jaime M. N. Lavallee is a member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, Saskatchewan, Canada. She worked as the notice coordinator for the national NAGPRA program at the U.S. National Park Service, where she doubled the publication of Federal Register notices and trained over one thousand people on NAGPRA. Jaime is the Senior Policy Specialist for the File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council in southeast Saskatchewan, which represents 11 First Nations. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Law (SJD) at University of Arizona.