Photo Courtesy: nenow
Kohima: Oxford University is shipping 39 sets of Naga human remains back to Nagaland. The university governing council approved the move on July 13. The Pitt Rivers Museum currently houses these remains. It holds roughly 8,000 Naga items, including 178 objects containing human hair. The museum pulled all human remains from public display in 2020.
Negotiations began six years ago. The university refused one additional set of remains. Officials cited a lack of evidence regarding its Naga origin. A delegation of tribal leaders and members of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) visited the museum in June 2025. They signed the Naga Oxford Declaration on Repatriation on June 13. The team plans to travel to the museum this November to collect the items.
The effort involves the FNR, Naga Tribe Hohos, and the Recover, Restore and Decolonise (RRaD) research initiative. Academics Dolly Kikon and Arkotong Longkumer lead RRaD. They worked with church groups, students, and elders to build local support. These remains were taken as colonial trophies. They were often traded or studied without consent.
Prof Laura Van Broekhoven, Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, addressed the process in a letter to Rev Dr Wati Aier. She said, “We hope we can now commence the work — together with the Forum for Naga Reconciliation, the Naga Tribe Hohos, and with the support of the Recover, Restore and Decolonise team — towards the bringing home of the Naga ancestors to their homeland.”
The return represents a push for justice. The Naga delegation plans to build a monument of peace in Nagaland to mark the homecoming. The project is part of a global shift. Indigenous communities are reclaiming cultural artifacts and remains held by Western institutions.
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