Andreas Giorgallis argues that prevailing approaches often frame decolonisation as a series of discrete corrective interventions, rather than as a challenge to the structural foundations through which heritage is constituted and governed. Unless the enduring colonial architectures embedded in these frameworks are addressed, decolonisation risks remaining symbolic rather than transformative.
Andreas Giorgallis provides an overview of how race manifests itself when it comes to cultural heritage, with reference to the restitution of colonial cultural objects, statues related to slavery and colonialism, intangible cultural heritage but also its protection during armed conflict.
The paper 'Nkali and Kolo-collecting in Eastern Nigeria: interrogating colonial collections of ọfϙ and Ikenga, Igbo objects of sovereignty and authority' explores the changing narratives of Ọfϙ and Ikenga, sacred objects of sovereignty and authority among the Igbo of Eastern Nigeria, currently in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA), University of Cambridge (UK).
The paper argues that the ensuing negotiations and the state-imposed criteria for reburial reflect an ongoing colonial impulse to control Indigenous bodies and restrict ontological and political self-determination.
The latest issue of the "International Journal of Heritage Studies" (Volume 31, Issue 3, 2025) is out! This issues features a series of articles on "virtual repatriation", "the symbolic violence of heritage consultancy", "the heritage value of emptiness", etc.
