FNR-RRaD holds dialogue with Sumi frontal organisations on repatriation

Zunheboto, June 25 (MExN): A team of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) and Recover, Restore and Decolonise (RRaD) met with Sumi frontal organisations at the Sumi Hoho office in Zunheboto on June 24.

A press release issued by the RRaD stated that representatives from the Sumi frontal organisations included Sumi Hoho, Sumi Totimi (women) Hoho, Sumi Kukami (GB) Hoho, Sumi Youth Organisation, All Sumi Students’ Union and the Sumi Literature Board.

The meeting, as per the press release, “was part of the FNR-RRaD’s ongoing dialogue initiative with cultural groups (tribe) about the Naga ancestral human remains housed at the Pitt Rivers Museum (PRM), Oxford University, UK, including its possible repatriation.”

It added, “The Sumi organisations expressed support to the initiative and said they would disseminate the information and continue to engage with the issue among themselves and find ways to positively contribute to the process.”

It also highlighted that in 2020, PRM announced that it would no longer exhibit ancestral human remains and began a process of taking down the human remains and engaging with Indigenous communities to dialogue about the future status of ancestral human remains.

Since 2021, the FNR began a process of facilitating a process of dialogue around the Naga ancestral human remains and formed the RRaD team for conducting participatory action research in developing a robust Naga response which has involved gathering information and raising awareness across the Naga homeland by actively conducting interviews, making visits to various regions, engaging with community leaders and elders, and fostering public awareness about the repatriation initiative, it stated.

The FNR-RRaD team has travelled to various communities throughout Nagaland including Mon, Longwa, Chi, Longleng, Wokha, Mokokchung, Nagaland University Headquarters in Lumami, Medziphema, Zunheboto, Makhel, Ashufii Punanamei, Dimapur and Kohima.

The team has been engaging with different cultural groups, church leaders, educational institutions, and professionals through public dialogue and focus group discussions and these discussions have been well-received, creating an opportunity to share different perspectives, clarify questions and develop a common understanding. “The engagements are ongoing.”