Abstract
I seek to address the limitations of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) on Kānaka ‘Ōiwi by reconceptualizing the colonial construct of “repatriation” to consider how colonization in all its forms impacts the capacity of Kānaka ‘Ōiwi to identify, receive, and reintern nā iwi kūpuna and moepū. This is imperative as our efforts to effectuate our kuleana in bringing home nā iwi kūpuna and moepū are woefully stymied by the violent dismantling of our lāhui and cultural practices, in addition to the barriers wrought by the ongoing effects of colonialism in all its forms.

To combat the limitations of NAGPRA, repatriation must be a multi-faceted process firmly rooted in indigenous interdisciplinary collaboration to ensure that indigenous law and policy advocates advance genuine solutions that will maximize equity in practice. This interdisciplinary collaboration can only be accomplished by strengthening pilina between indigenous law and policy advocates and indigenous library and informational professionals to ensure that nā iwi kūpuna and moepū are repatriated in a culturally and spiritually appropriate way. This is critical because who we are as Kānaka ‘Ōiwi is inextricably tied to our cultural and spiritual beliefs that arise through our kinship relationships which, in turn, necessitates the kuleana we have in bringing home nā iwi kūpuna and moepū. In effectuating our kuleana, we exercise our choice to rise by determining our truth – the truth of our personhood and our truth as a people – thereby effectively exercising our inherent sovereignty as a people who have been living since the beginning of time.