Dimapur, September 4 (MExN): The Forum for Naga Reconciliation-Recover Restore and Decolonise (FNR-RRaD) two-day “September Dialogue on Naga Repatriation, Decolonisation and Healing” will be held from September 6 at The Lighthouse Church, Dimapur.
A mini pop-up photography exhibition presenting a visual journey of the FNR-RRaD team’s engagement with communities in the Naga homeland and beyond will also be on display at the event.
A press release from the FNR-RRaD informed that the ‘September Dialogue’ is designed to be a reflective process of learning and unlearning on issues of Naga repatriation, colonisation, decolonisation, trauma healing and reconciliation.
From a viewpoint of healing and reconciliation, the FNR is facilitating a process to formulate a Naga response to determine the future status of the Naga ancestral human remains that were taken away during the British Colonial period without the consent and knowledge of the people, it said.
The Naga ancestral human remains, though no longer exhibited, are currently kept in storage boxes under the care of the Pitt Rivers Museum in the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, it informed.
Accordingly, the ‘September Dialogue’ is aimed at increasing the understanding of the impact of colonisation, and what decolonisation and repatriation would be like in the Naga context, the FNR-RRaD noted.
All these imply nurturing of a collective journey to wholeness through healing return to wholeness through healing, it added,
The objective, the FNR-RRaD noted, to facilitate meaningful introspective dialogues, promote collaborative efforts that contribute to the broader discourse on ethical practices, repatriation challenges, and developing a Naga decolonisation process.
Envisioned as an inter-generational platform for collaborative deliberations and discussions that support an environment to consolidate the initiative, the ‘September Dialogue’ is part of the FNR-RRaD’s internal learning journey to develop more knowledge that informs the entire process of building a common understanding through lectures, paper presentations, storytelling, songs, discussions and critical reflection, it added.
The dialogue is expected to bring together students, academics, professionals, activists, theologians, elders, and community leaders and consciously discern together in developing a foundational value-based perspective while engaging with Repatriation, Decolonisation and Reconciliation.
