RRaD (Recover, Restore and Decolonise) was formed in 2021 to facilitate and engage with issues around the repatriation of Naga ancestral human remains to the Naga homeland.
In 2020, the Pitt Rivers Museum (PRM) in Oxford, UK, reached out to the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) to help facilitate community dialogue regarding the “future care and return” of Naga ancestral human remains.
As part of this process, the FNR formed Recover Restore and Decolonise (RRaD) to study and network with indigenous elders, conduct participatory action research, generate public awareness, and develop a strong viable case to make an official claim to the University of Oxford for returning the Naga human remains.
To examine the impact of colonisation on the Naga people.
To highlight how colonisation continues to impact Naga practices such as culture, belief, economy and politics.
To develop a Naga consciousness, grounded in indigenous knowledge, to engage with the unfolding decolonizing processes.
To conduct participatory action research, generate public awareness and develop a Naga pedagogy that strengthens understanding of repatriating Naga ancestral human remains, and empowering us to apply this model to future initiatives.
As a community of students, activists, researchers, thinkers, and academics from the Naga homelands and in diaspora, RRaD is committed to restorative justice, reconciliation and reparation, decolonizing epistemologies, and creating equitable collaborations towards a better Naga future.
To open enquiries and create safe spaces for a people-centred approach that is inclusive, collaborative, transparent and accountable. It seeks to preserve and understand the history of the Naga people through a dignified return of human remains, and opens pathways for healing across generations that renews the human spirit.
RRaD envisions that the process of repatriation will facilitate an introspective journey of healing through which the Naga people can return to wholeness through the practice and renewal of our values, create and cultivate a Naga consciousness grounded in local knowledge. through the practice and renewal of our values, present and the future.
Images used in the website have been used with permission from the creators.
The Recover, Restore and Decolonise (RRaD) contains information and resources relating to the history and effects of the removal and repatriation of Naga Ancestral Remains. RRaD is a website that is constantly being developed and added to. Whilst we aim to only present information on this website that is appropriate for a public space, accurate and up to date, we would like to acknowledge that there are many gaps in the information shared which comes from both the historic record and our own knowledge. Please get in touch at [email protected] or any of our social media handles in our contact page, if you would like to share any thoughts or questions with us regarding repatriation, and/or if you have any comments, queries or suggestions on how we can make this website as useful and usable as possible.
While the Recover, Restore and Decolonise (RRaD) team (including all partner organisations) have used all reasonable endeavours to ensure the information on this site is as accurate as possible, it gives no warranty or guarantee that the material, information or publication made accessible is accurate, complete, current, or fit for any use whatsoever. No reliance should be made by a user of the material, information or publication accessed via this site.
The RRaD team (including all partner organisations) accepts no liability or responsibility for any loss or damage whatsoever suffered as a result of direct or indirect use or application of any material, publication or information made accessible via the website or any of our social media handles.
The RRaD Website provides links to companies/organisations and information external to the RRaD Website. In providing such links, the RRaD team and all partner organisations do not accept responsibility for, or endorse the content or condition of, any linked site. The RRaD team (including all partner organisations) reserves the right to vary the material, information or publication on this web site without notice.
Images used in the website have been used with permission from the creators.
The purpose of this website is to create widespread awareness about the process of repatriation and the profound impact of colonization on Naga people. Please be warned that some of the information shared here may be distressing as they reference a problematic part of history when our ancestors were referred to as ‘savages’ and ‘inferior.’ There will also be stories of our ancestors who have passed away and their remains which were taken, researched on and displayed without consent by colonizers. We request that you take the information shared here with the gravity it deserves, and we believe that you will honour our guidelines of responsible use.