He is familiar with the literature about it. Van Beurden has an extensive network. ‘The presence of so many collections from former colonial territories in the global north is just indecent.’
‘I have been working on a very special subject for over 30 years: the protection of the cultural heritage of former colonies and the return of looted art by European countries. When I started, hardly anyone was talking about it.’
‘That restitution seems to be coming along nicely now: recently, the Netherlands returned hundreds of objects to Indonesia and a handful to Sri Lanka. These had been looted in 1765 (Sri Lanka) and in 1894 and 1908 (Moluccas and Bali). (Those countries also used my book Treasures in Trusted Hands in the process).
‘Recently, 15 skulls went back to the Moluccas. These had been taken unsolicited. (I was a consultant there; it is described in The Empty Showcase Syndrome)’.
‘Like the Netherlands, other European countries also return looted art. Anyone who has seen the film Dahomey knows that France returned 26 looted objects to the Republic of Benin.’
‘That all seems like a lot, but is in fact still very little. Former colonies would like to have more back. They need their heritage to tell the story and history of their country.’
Among my books:
- The Empty Showcase Syndrome. Tough questions about colonial collections (Amsterdam: AUP 2024) (open access), https://www.aup.nl/nl/book/9789048564071/the-empty-showcase-syndrome
- Het Lege Vitrine Syndroom. Lastige vragen over koloniale collecties (Zutphen: Walburg Pers 2023)
- Inconvenient Heritage – Colonial collections and restitution in the Netherlands and Belgium (Amsterdam: AUP, 2022) (open access), https://www.aup.nl/nl/book/9789463720595/inconvenient-heritage
- Ongemakkelijk Erfgoed – Koloniale collecties en teruggave in de Lage Landen (Zutphen, 2021)
- Herplaatsing Collectie voormalig Museum Nusantara 2013 – 2018, (Open Access) https://www.materialculture.nl/sites/default/files/2019-02/Herplaatsing%20Collectie%20voormalig%20Museum%20Nusantara%20Delft%202013%20%E2%80%93%202018.pdf
- Treasures in Trusted Hands – Negotiating the future of colonial cultural objects (Leiden, 2017), (open access, downloaded over 11,000 times), https://www.sidestone.com/books/treasures-in-trusted-hands
- The return of cultural and historical treasures – The case of the Netherlands KIT Publishers, 2012), (open access) https://issuu.com/kitpublishers/docs/the_return_of__cultural_lr
