ABSTRACT
Since the early 1990s, the four Western Apache Tribes of Arizona have addressed repatriation collaboratively as the Western Apache NAGPRA Working Group. Directly guided by highly knowledgeable and respected elders, the Apaches have repatriated almost 500 powerful ceremonial objects and hundreds of human remains and funerary objects from over twenty institutions. In doing so, the Apaches have directly confronted a painful and recent traumatic past and have committed to playing an active role in restoring a state of Gozhóó, by bringing consciousness, healing, and balance both to their own communities and to the Earth. This process has involved an intensive examination and adaptation of traditional Apache spiritual principles and ongoing resistance from some of the museum community.
