Preservation of Native American cultural property under United States Federal law: A discursive analysis of NAGPRA

The management of Native American heritage through the legislation of American Federal preservation acts has created a system of public history that has institutionally defined who has been allowed to collect most categories of objects, who may retain them and who may interpret them for the education of the general American public. The Federal government took the responsibility of preserving the nation's history in the early twentieth century; by 1989 it had become a complicated network of both State and Federal laws. With the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA), the right of ownership and control over sacred materials, human remains and objects of cultural patrimony was transferred to tribal control. The Congressional dialogue highlights the central debates blocking the passage of NAGPRA: human rights versus scientific analysis, fiduciary obligations of public institutions and the consequences of a mandated repatriation clause. The Federal Acts addressing public history can be read as texts defining regulations of ownership, preservation, protection and control of the management of Native American heritage.