Oxford University agrees to repatriate 39 Naga ancestral human remains taken during colonial rule

The University of Oxford in the United Kingdom has agreed to repatriate 39 human remains belonging to the Naga people that were taken during colonial rule and put on display for decades.

The Pitt Rivers Museum, which holds collections from Oxford University, has the world’s largest Naga collection. It has around 8,000 Naga objects, including human remains, mainly skulls, and 178 objects that contain or may contain human hair. The museum removed all human remains from public display in 2020, Reuters reported.

Skulls and other body parts were often taken from Asia, Africa and elsewhere to Britain and other former colonial powers as “trophies”, and were traded, displayed or studied.

There are growing calls worldwide for such human remains, as well as stolen art and artefacts, to be returned to their communities as part of a wider movement seeking reparations for colonialism and slavery.

On Saturday, Naga Tribe Hobos and the Forum for Naga Reconciliation said in a statement that a Naga delegation will travel to the Pitt Rivers Museum to “claim and return” the ancestral remains.

The handover, scheduled for November, will be the largest repatriation of human remains from the museum, The New York Times quoted Pitt Rivers director Laura Van Broekhoven as saying.

Naga representatives have sought the return of the remains for years, with formal...

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