The two-day “September Dialogue on Naga Repatriation, Decolonisation and Healing” got underway at The Lighthouse Church, Dimapur, on Friday, 6 September 2024.
Setting the tone for the dialogue, Rev. Dr. Ellen Konyak Jamir, coordinator of Recover, Restore and Decolonise (RRaD) gave a brief background of how conversations on repatriation of the Naga remains from the Pitt Rivers Museum, at the Oxford University, UK, began.
“Discussions regarding the possibility of repatriating Naga human remains began in the winter of 2020 were the first steps of the journey taken by the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR),” she said.
Rev. Jamir mentioned the paradigm shifts taking place in museum policies, stating that the Pitt Rivers Museum used the concept of “Radical Hope” to reimagine the future for museums having deep roots in coloniality.
Experiences from around the world show that repatriation processes are complicated, with some communities having engaged in the process for decades. For Rev. Ellen, she viewed it as more than just the return of human remains, or the forgotten dead. “It is deeply interconnected with a web of other matters fundamental to Naga life.”
“We have an opportunity to create a pathway towards the future, to redress and reconcile, and in the process, usher in critical change in our Naga homeland, while honouring our ancestors,” she added.
Speaking in the first session, Prof. Dolly Kikon, Director, Centre for South Asian Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, said that repatriation has been a “trigger” for Naga people.
She shared of how when the process of repatriation process started four years ago, there had been several questions being asked. The Naga response had been emotive – “Emotions of surprise, of sadness, of shame, of anger,” she said, and in this backdrop, this dialogue was important to help the Naga people find a way forward.
On decolonisation, Prof. Kikon viewed it as a process, a way of life, a practice. “You have to embody it,” she insisted.
On healing, Prof. Kikon underlined the importance of healing, particularly in the Naga context, having undergone a past which, for many had been a traumatic one.
“The journey of journey of healing is to find a way to transcend suffering and maybe those questions rest in our mortality and how we care for one another and how we see this life as a limited gift on earth,” she said.
Prof. Tiatoshi Jamir, of the Department of History and Archeology, Nagaland University, presented on “Isüng Ütsü” (Our story – in Changki dialect) during which he shared his decade-long experience of “community archeology” as a practice towards decolonisation.
As a way forward, he suggested the need for systematic provenance work with the help of experts in identifying the remains, support from the government and holding institutions like PRM in providing resources required to undertake all aspects of the repatriation process, involving the communities, strengthening the exchange of knowledge among students, and changing attitudes towards death and burial practices.
The need to recognize inter-generational trauma and healing was stressed upon.
The other presenters of the day were, Dr. Visier Sanyü, Dr. P. Ngully, Mannpai H. Phom, Dr. Amihe Swu, Dr. Loina Shohe and Bauna Panmei.
Read more: FNR-RRAD to hold ‘September Dialogue on Naga Repatriation, Decolonisation and Healing’ on 6-7 Sep
