Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum Returns 39 Naga Ancestral Remains: Handover Ceremony Held on November 9 for Remains Taken in the Colonial Era
Oxford, United Kingdom. Oxford University's Pitt Rivers Museum formally returned the remains of 39 Naga people at a handover ceremony on November 9, 2026.
The Oxford University Council transferred the custodianship of the remains to the Naga people through the Forum for Naga Reconciliation and the Naga Tribe Hoho. The Transfer of Title Form was signed by Professor Laura Van Broekhoven on behalf of the Pitt Rivers Museum and Rev. Dr Wati Aier on behalf of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation, and was attested by Visier Sanyü and Thejao Vihienuo. After the handover, the ancestral remains were moved out of the university to begin their journey home.
The Pitt Rivers Museum was established in 1884. The museum holds more than 6,000 objects representing Naga culture, described as the largest collection in the world, and the remains were brought to Oxford between 1910 and 1940. The repatriation process began in 2020, facilitated by the Forum for Naga Reconciliation.
The ceremony began with a chant, Langhon Langpheng Ngao, by Nyamto Wangsha. Oxford Vice Chancellor Professor Irene Tracey recognised the event as historic between the university and the Naga people, and described the repatriation as a community-led initiative of reconciliation, healing and peace.
Professor Visier Sanyü, speaking for the Forum for Naga Reconciliation, recounted the burning of his village by colonial British forces and quoted the late Naga peace activist Niketu Iralu, who remarked that hate not transformed is transferred.
Almost 30 members of the Naga delegation travelled to Britain for the ceremony. The museum has previously handed back human remains to Indigenous communities in Australia, New Zealand and the United States. It removed all human remains from display in 2020 and still holds around 2,700 remains in storage.
来源链接： https://ruralpost.in/oxford-hands-over-naga-ancestral-remains/
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons 词条主图：Augustus Pitt Rivers
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