Austria’s new Africa strategy includes provenance research and restitution

[in German] The new Austrian Africa Strategy refers in a passage on cultural cooperation not only to cooperation in artistic and cultural projects, but also to the importance of scientific provenance research on African art and cultural heritage in Austrian museums and universities and the possibility of restitution. + comment

The strategy favours ‘Provenance Research Projects for the Reappraisal of the Colonial Past in Austrian collections in the context of bilateral and international contacts with strengthen; Austria is open to an exchange with diaspora members in this regard. communities through other forms of cooperation’.

Cultural researcher Freda Fiala comments:

  • It is encouraging to see these questions named in an Austrian policy document, all while naming them is only a step.
  • Austria does not yet have an Asia strategy, and I am not sure what such a strategy would or should look like. Still, it is important to see non-European relations being addressed beyond diplomacy, trade, or development policy alone — to see culture, research, and heritage included as fields in which historical responsibility must be taken seriously.

RM* thanks for the contribution to this item