Returning ancestors to their rightful homes

Since she was hired last summer as new NAGPRA Program and Collections manager, Alyson Rollins, ’98, M.A., anthropology, has been immersed in the challenging task of repatriating Native American ancestral remains and cultural artifacts under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

In its essence, NAGPRA enables a process in which Indigenous peoples work with the institutions who temporarily house their ancestors’ remains, along with sacred and cultural artifacts, and ultimately repatriate them.

“It is a privilege to work alongside tribal partners to return ancestors and sacred items to their rightful homes,” says Rollins.

As of early 2024, the university was responsible for 63 ancestors with known tribal affiliations and 18 ancestors with unidentified affiliations, as well as hundreds of associated funerary objects. Western faculty have actively worked toward repatriating remains and artifacts that were sent to the university throughout the 1900s.

Recently, Western has accelerated these repatriation efforts in partnership with tribal communities.

“The tribes sort of laid out my priorities,” Rollins says. “Take care of the ancestors and their things, and then go through all the collections to identify additional sacred items and items of cultural patrimony.”

With her 25 years of previous expertise in repatriation and cultural resource management, Rollins has strengthened the university’s ability to navigate the complex requirements of NAGPRA and has completed the documentation for all 63 culturally affiliated ancestors in Western’s care. In addition, 41 have been repatriated, along with 238 associated cultural items, and five ancestors have been physically transferred back to tribal communities.

“The respectful return of ancestors and sacred items is a vital step toward reconciliation and healing,” says WWU Tribal Liaison Laural Ballew. “This process is not an easy move by a non-Native person but Alyson’s expertise and dedication working with tribal nations in cultural protocol “It is a privilege to work alongside tribal partners,” says Rollins, '98, have been instrumental in building trust and advancing this essential work that is so deeply sensitive and personal for our Indigenous communities.”

WWU students have also been deeply involved analyzing one of the oldest collections in Western’s care. “It’s in the range of 8,000 years old and very sacred to one of our local tribal partners,” Rollins says. “We have some museology students who are working with me and partnering with this tribal community to rehouse this collection and bring it up to archival standards, and then it’s going to be repatriated back to that community.”

Rollins continues to work with Coast Salish tribal communities, helping return ancestral remains and cultural materials while building lasting relationships with tribal leaders. She has reached out to 34 tribal and First Nations communities to learn more about the 18 culturally unaffiliated ancestors and to identify more objects of cultural importance in Western’s collection.

“This work is about more than compliance,” Rollins says. “It’s about respect, healing and building meaningful relationships with our Indigenous partners. Each ancestor returned represents a step toward justice.”