Kohima. The process of repatriating the human remains of the Naga community from a UK museum is underway.
Oxford’s ‘Pitt River Museum (PRM) in Britain houses many antiquities from around the world, including 213 human remains from the Naga community. The PRM announced in 2020 that it would remove human remains and other “insensitive” objects from the exhibition. Upon learning of this, Dolly Konyak, a Naga anthropologist from Australia, contacted Dr. Arkatong Longkumer, a Naga sociologist based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and He interacted with Laura Van Broekhoven, Director of PRM. Broekhoven then urged the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) to help process the repatriation of the human remains.
The FNR is playing an active role in the process of reconciliation between the various Naga factions holding peace talks with the Centre. The British had taken these human remains from Nagaland and other Naga populated areas in the region more than a century ago and the repatriation of these human remains is part of the “decolonization process”. FNR convenor Vati Ayer said the organization is helping the process, which is still in its initial stages.
FNR member Ellen Konyak Jameer said that the forum, along with Dolly Konyak and Longkumer and some other members of the Naga society, has formed a ‘Recover, Restore and Decolonize’ team in 2020. done, which will help in the process of repatriating the human remains. “We have come to know that the human remains were forcibly taken away and proper burial rituals were not performed or they were not treated with dignity,” Jamir told PTI. They were taken for the purpose of providing information or research for entertainment which is against our values and belief.
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