Quakers support return of Naga ancestral remains from UK museum

Elders and leaders from Nagaland, in northeast India, were in the UK for discussions around the return of remains held by the Pitt Rivers Museum, which removed them from public display in 2020.

As part of their visit, an afternoon of discussions and speeches was held, followed by a closing ceremony with prayers and song, and a reception at the Pitt Rivers Museum.

“We are grateful to our ancestors for being a testament and silently proclaiming the stories of our people," said leaders from Naga tribal Hohos (councils).

“We are sorry that it has taken us several decades, but we are here now to reclaim you and return you to the homelands from where you were taken."

Quakers from Oxford and further afield joined the event on Friday, reflecting long-standing ties between Quakers and communities in the Naga Hills, a mountainous region along the India–Myanmar border.

Current Quaker work includes a small group of appointed Friends quietly offering solidarity and friendship, at their request, to a Naga civil society group working nonviolently to end conflict in the region.

Supporting the Naga people in repatriating their ancestors' remains is part of Quaker work to make meaningful reparations for colonialism.

In 2022, the faith group committed to exploring meaningful reparations for Quaker involvement in enslavement and colonialism.

A year earlier, they agreed to become an anti-racist church.

The Naga delegation also travelled to London, where they met Paul Boateng, member of the House of Lords, who voiced his support.

Boateng led a House of Lords debate in March on preventing the sale and display of human body parts, after an Oxfordshire auction house attempted to sell a Naga skull last year.

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