Understanding NAGPRA: Native American Repatriation Law
This paper examines the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), a federal law governing the treatment and return of Native American human remains and cultural items. Drawing on Messenger and Bender's (2019) Heritage Studies framework and National Park Service guidance, the paper outlines NAGPRA's core provisions, its role in fostering respectful dialogue between tribes and institutions, and critiques regarding its potential impact on scientific inquiry. It also emphasizes the importance of NAGPRA awareness for both undergraduate and graduate students pursuing careers in archaeology, museum studies, and related fields.
- What NAGPRA Is: Definition and scope of the federal law
- Relevance and Benefits of NAGPRA: How NAGPRA fosters respectful return and dialogue
- Downsides and Criticisms: Concerns about impact on scientific inquiry
- The Need for NAGPRA Awareness: Importance of NAGPRA education for students
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What makes this paper effective
- Presents a balanced perspective by acknowledging both the benefits and the legitimate criticisms of NAGPRA, avoiding one-sided advocacy.
- Integrates primary legal sources (National Park Service) alongside secondary academic sources (Messenger and Bender) to support each claim.
- Closes with a forward-looking section on student education, connecting legal awareness to professional practice.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of direct quotation paired with paraphrase. Rather than relying solely on block quotations, the author introduces quoted material with context, then follows up with their own analytical commentary — particularly evident in the "Downsides" section, where the author concedes the critics' point before qualifying it with their own reasoned position.
Structure breakdown
The paper follows a four-part expository structure: definition → benefits → drawbacks → implications. Each section builds logically on the last, moving from what the law is, to why it matters, to where it falls short, and finally to who needs to understand it. This predictable scaffolding makes the argument easy to follow and would serve well as a model for short analytical essays in social science or law-adjacent courses.
What NAGPRA Is
One of the crucial issues that Messenger and Bender (2019) highlight relates to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). From the outset, it is important to note that this is an instrumental federal law aimed at ensuring that fairness, respect, and dignity are observed in the treatment of ancestral human remains and various cultural items. As the National Park Service (NPS, 2019) points out, one pivotal aspect of this statute is its acknowledgment "that human remains and other cultural items removed from Federal or tribal lands belong, in the first instance, to lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations."
Relevance and Benefits of NAGPRA
According to the NPS (2019), one of the greatest benefits of this federal law is that it facilitates respectful return. This, as the NPS further notes, enhances understanding and promotes dialogue between Native organizations and tribes and museums. This is the same benefit that Messenger and Bender (2019) advance. In the authors' words, "the ability to form respectful relationships through consultation opens the door for tribes and institutions both to build trust and to consider permissible research" (p. 98). The authors argue that in this context, NAGPRA is instrumental in establishing the relevant protocols to govern relations between institutions and tribes.
References
Messenger, P. M., & Bender, S. J. (2019). History and Approaches to Heritage Studies. University Press of Florida.
National Park Service – NPS. (2019). Facilitating respectful return. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nagpra/index.htm
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