Largest repatriation in Hawaiian history completed with cultural items long held at UC Berkeley
Stored for decades at UC Berkeley, 335 items — 34 of them sacred objects — now are back in Hawaii after a collaboration between Native Hawaiians and the campus. Native Hawaiians said the effort demonstrates how significantly repatriation processes have improved, signaling a more positive chapter in museums returning ancestors and objects to their Indigenous homelands. “It was really refreshing to see humans trying to be the best they can be in this situation,” said Mana Cáceres, a Native Hawaiian who works on repatriation cases around the world and helped facilitate the one with UC Berkeley.
