Colonial officials, collectors, and anthropologists dismembered African buildings and dispersed their parts to museums in Europe and the United States. Most of these artifacts were cataloged as ornamental art objects, which erased their intended functions, and the removal of these objects often had catastrophic consequences for the original structures.
Although Laura Benton's book is not directly about colonial collections and restitution, RM* wants to mention it. 'They called it peace' is about the ideological-legal justification of colonial violence and plunder.
