The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (1990) is a US federal law requiring museums and agencies that receive federal funds to inventory and return Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and cultural patrimony to affiliated tribes.

What was the Sarr-Savoy report?

Commissioned by the French government and published in 2018, the Sarr-Savoy report argued for the systematic restitution of African cultural heritage held in French museums that was removed during the colonial period, influencing restitution debates internationally.

Repatriation of Cultural Property

The return of cultural objects, human remains, and sacred items to their countries and communities of origin, and the law, ethics, and politics this involves.

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Definition

Repatriation of cultural property is the return of cultural objects or human remains to the nation, people, or community from which they originated, particularly where they were taken through conquest, colonialism, or wrongful acquisition.

Scope

This topic covers claims for the return of cultural property: Indigenous repatriation under laws such as NAGPRA, the return of human ancestral remains and sacred objects, demands for the restitution of colonial-era acquisitions, and famous cases such as the Parthenon Marbles and the Benin Bronzes. It addresses the legal instruments, ethical arguments, and shifting museum practices around return.

Core questions

On what grounds can a community claim the return of objects?
How do laws such as NAGPRA structure repatriation?
What does decolonizing collections mean for return?
How are competing claims and museum interests reconciled?

Key theories

Repatriation rights and Indigenous control: Laws such as NAGPRA establish that descendant communities have rights over ancestral human remains and sacred and patrimonial objects, reframing these not as museum property but as belongings owed back to their peoples.
Relational ethics of restitution: Sarr and Savoy argue that the return of African heritage taken under colonialism is an ethical imperative aimed at building a new, reciprocal relationship, shifting restitution from exception to principle.

History

Repatriation moved from sporadic claims to systematic practice with the US NAGPRA in 1990, which mandated the return of Native American remains and objects. Long-running disputes such as Greece's claim to the Parthenon Marbles, and the 2018 Sarr-Savoy report on African heritage, have made the restitution of colonial collections, including the Benin Bronzes, a central issue for museums worldwide.

Debates

Return versus retention by encyclopedic museums: Source communities and nations argue for return on grounds of justice and origin, while some encyclopedic museums defend retention as preservation and global access, making restitution one of museology's sharpest debates.

Key figures

Felwine Sarr
Bénédicte Savoy
Jeanette Greenfield
Cressida Fforde

Seminal works

nagpra1990
sarrsavoy2018
greenfield2007rep

Frequently asked questions

What is NAGPRA?: The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (1990) is a US federal law requiring museums and agencies that receive federal funds to inventory and return Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and cultural patrimony to affiliated tribes.
What was the Sarr-Savoy report?: Commissioned by the French government and published in 2018, the Sarr-Savoy report argued for the systematic restitution of African cultural heritage held in French museums that was removed during the colonial period, influencing restitution debates internationally.