The Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was passed in 1990 to require museums and other institutions that receive federal funding to follow a process for transferring human remains and associated objects to the Indigenous peoples that have the legal right to them. The University of Michigan has an established set of policies and procedures to guide these efforts, and for the past decade Ben Secunda has been overseeing the project’s implementation.

Secunda joins Michigan Minds to explain the significance of NAGPRA, detail how transfers are conducted, and emphasize that this project is much more than federal compliance — it’s relationship building.