Pitt Rivers Museum returns 39 human remains to Naga people
The Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford University has handed back 39 human remains to the Naga people of India, righting a piece of colonial history.
These remains, taken during British rule, were returned in a ceremony attended by nearly 30 people from the Naga community in northeastern Nagaland, a moment that is both historic and deeply meaningful for the community.
Naga people plan joint memorial reburial
The Naga community plans to lay the remains to rest under a joint memorial.
This return wraps up six years of collaboration with the museum and follows a growing global push for museums to send back items taken during colonial times.
As museum director Laura Van Broekhoven put it, these were collected in times that had different ethics, different thinking, which was not unproblematic when we look at it with the eyes of today.
The Naga people see it as a way to honor their ancestors.