Repatriating Cultural Artifacts From Abroad: How This Impacts On Oppressive Colonizing Plunderers Of The Past
The Oasis Reporters
November 18, 2021
Meaghan Peuramaki-Brown, Athabasca University and Sylvia Batty, Galen University report that the Smithsonian Museum of African Art recently announced its intent to remove from display and repatriate Benin Bronzes back to Nigeria. Similar news stories of returning “stolen” or “removed” items of historical and cultural value are becoming more common.
What this says is that at some point, thieves must pay reparations, either by themselves when they are less strong, or by their children, even grand children or perhaps great grandchildren.
In other words, what is stolen cannot be kept forever. History remains the best recorder. Remove it from schools curriculum as much as powerful people want, it surely must bounce back.
South African Boers know this. So did British colonizers.
Looting artifacts or traditional lands of other people are a painful part of history that calls for restitution.
Nations and people are increasingly participating in everyday actions of decolonization and reconciliation, of which repatriation is just one element. Hausa people think of their lost lands, heritage and history that occurred when their homeland was invaded by the Fulani on horses, which was mere aggrandizement and no more.
The British and Boers returned lands to indigenous South Africans and Zimbabweans. It may one day get to the turn of other oppressed tribes in Africa and elsewhere.
“We cannot build for the future without making our best effort at healing the wounds of the past”.
The Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of African Art in Washington, DC says the Benin bronzes were looted by the British in an 1897 raid on the royal palace, according to the museum’s director, Ngaire Blankenberg.
“I can confirm that we have taken down the Benin bronzes we had on display and we are fully committed to repatriation,” Blankenberg says. “We cannot build for the future without making our best effort at healing the wounds of the past.”
The museum had 21 objects from the Kingdom of Benin on display earlier this year. Its online database lists 38 objects from Benin in the collection. Around half have been traced to the British punitive expedition to Benin in 1897, including several plaques, commemorative heads and figures. Provenance research on other items is still ongoing.
After the 1897 looting, artefacts from Benin’s royal palace were sold off and scattered around the world; Benin objects are now held by more than 160 international museums, including several in the US. The University of California’s Fowler Museum has also said it plans talks with the Nigerian authorities on the future of 18 objects in its collection from the Kingdom of Benin.
In addition to uninstalling the looted objects, Blankenberg has affirmed her commitment to repatriating the Benin Bronzes in NMAfA’s collections to Nigeria, as first reported by Catherine Hickley of the Art Newspaper. The museum is currently in talks with Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments about the future of the collection, per an emailed statement.
The director stresses that she does not have the authority to repatriate the items herself. A timeline for the process has yet to be determined. Earlier this year, however, the Smithsonian established a working group tasked with refining the Institution’s policy regarding repatriation and looted art in its collections. Recommendations are expected by the end of 2021, Blankenberg says.
Currently, writes Matt Stevens for the New York Times, the process for deaccessioning or repatriating objects in the Smithsonian’s collections involves approval from Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch and the Smithsonian Institution Board of Regents; discussion with recipients (in this case, Nigerian cultural officials and the Benin royal family); an outside expert appraisal; and thorough provenance research.
Last week, two British universities returned looted artefacts to Nigeria: the University of Aberdeen handed over the bronze head of an Oba, or king, and Jesus College Cambridge returned a bronze sculpture of a cockerel.
In mid-October, Germany and Nigeria signed a memorandum of understanding setting out a timetable for the return of around 1,100 Benin sculptures from German museums, with the first repatriations envisaged in the second quarter of 2022.
In June, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York announced that it will be sending three objects back to Nigeria. Two of the works, a pair of 16th-century Benin Court brass plaques of a Warrior Chief and Junior Court Official, were donated to the museum in 1991 by the Modern art dealer Klaus Perls and his wife Dolly, while the third, a 14th-century Ife Head, was recently offered to the museum for purchase by another collector.
In addition to uninstalling the looted objects, Blankenberg has affirmed her commitment to repatriating the Benin Bronzes in NMAfA’s collections to Nigeria, as first reported by Catherine Hickley of the Art Newspaper. The museum is currently in talks with Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments about the future of the collection, per an emailed statement.
The director stresses that she does not have the authority to repatriate the items herself. A timeline for the process has yet to be determined. Earlier this year, however, the Smithsonian established a working group tasked with refining the Institution’s policy regarding repatriation and looted art in its collections. Recommendations are expected by the end of 2021, Blankenberg says.
Currently, writes Matt Stevens for the New York Times, the process for deaccessioning or repatriating objects in the Smithsonian’s collections involves approval from Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch and the Smithsonian Institution Board of Regents; discussion with recipients (in this case, Nigerian cultural officials and the Benin royal family); an outside expert appraisal; and thorough provenance research.
“We know that [the works of art] are looted,” Blankenberg tells Smithsonian. “I am extremely committed to giving them back. But it is not my decision as to when and how that happens”.
Ever since George Floyd was killed by an oppressive white police officer which unleashed an unforeseen chain reaction that mocks original feelings of might being right by racists, current thinking has turned against that concept, and great grandchildren of former bandits with guns that went about plundering and looting other peoples assets are feeling revolted. Many are righting the wrongs of their ancestors.
The Art Newspaper
The Smithsonian
In-house writing
