Michalyn Steele has posted “The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act as a Model of Cultural Sovereignty for Protecting Indigenous Sacred Sites” on SSRN.

Here is the abstract:

This Essay argues that NAGPRA provides a model for reassessing how to measure sacred site protection against competing values. Part I briefly maps the scope and history of Indigenous dispossession of sacred sites that has resulted in the unique challenges Indigenous people face in gaining access to and protection of these sites. Part II illustrates the values that most frequently compete with (and defeat) sacred site access and protection claims. Finally, Part III argues that NAGPRA offers a case study for reordering these values to recognize and prioritize the human rights and religious interests of Indigenous peoples in their sacred sites.