Colonial institutions resist repatriation of Indigenous remains despite NAGPRA mandates, deepening intergenerational trauma
Original framing: “Tribes want Cal State to return Native remains and artifacts — but the process isn’t easy” — bing news
Indigenous communities view remains and artifacts as sacred kin, not objects, and repatriation is a spiritual and cultural imperative tied to healing intergenerational trauma. Institutions like Cal State frame the process as 'compliance' rather than restitution, ignoring that NAGPRA was a hard-won concession, not a benevolent act. The 'heaviness' described by tribal members reflects the weight of colonial violence, not just bureaucratic fatigue.
The repatriation crisis at Cal State is not an isolated bureaucratic failure but a microcosm of settler-colonial institutions’ refusal to relinquish power over Indigenous lives—even in death.
These institutions, built on the theft of ancestors and artifacts, now weaponize delay under the guise of 'due process,' a tactic as old as colonialism itself. The emotional 'heaviness' described by tribal members is not just personal grief but a collective burden imposed by a system that treats Indigenous knowledge as extractable data and sacred remains as research material. True restitution requires dismantling the legal and cultural frameworks that enable this theft, from amending NAGPRA to empowering Indigenous governance over cultural heritage. Until then, universities like Cal State will continue to perform justice while perpetuating it—echoing the trickster’s paradox of claiming to serve while serving only themselves.