The debate about whether and how artefacts should be returned, raises a number of thorny questions about ownership and “home”.
What place artifacts belong to after many years in “exile” is sometimes disputed. Moreover, it is not always self-evident who best represents the community that the objects were taken from in a context of multiple levels of governance and conflicting power structures.
The fact that not only objects leave their places of origin, but also people, adds to this complexity. Diversity is increasingly recognized as an intrinsic part of the societies where many colonial-era objects are retained, and over time migrants from former colonies and their descendants have made themselves at home there.
However, recurrent political debates and campaigns in migrant-receiving countries picture immigrants and diasporas as “out of place” and in need of returning “home” unless they properly assimilate to the majority culture.
The panel organisers are: Camilla Orjuela, Staffan Lundén and Fisseha Fantahun Tefera, the People, Places and Plunder Project, School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
If you are interested, please send an abstract (maximum 250 words) to us at the latest by the 10th of March to <camilla.orjuela@gu.se>
The panel puts the focus on how the historical trajectories of mobility of both objects and people, and their multiple belongings, shape the debate and provide novel perspectives on restitution and representation.
The panel mentions as questions to address include (but are not limited to):
- What are the different ways in which objects can “come home” or be seen as being “at home”?
- How are multiple claims over the proper “home” of objects negotiated or resisted?
- What meanings are objects loaded with as they are connected to (diverse) places and communities? How does this affect representation and display?
- How does the idea of “home” and belonging figure in museum initiatives to collaborate with communities?
- In what ways do contested objects and their restitution relate to people’s sense of belonging and of being “at home” in a globalized world? To what extent and how do they become part of diaspora communities’ political homeland engagement?
