The restitution of works to African countries and other former colonies (Oceania in particular) is not new, with demands for return being almost as old as spoliation itself.
One of the first official requests came in 1880 from Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia, when he demanded the restitution of the royal collections wrested from the Fortress of Magdala in April 1868.
This treasure, consisting of a crown adorned with representations of the Apostles and the four Evangelists–and stolen by a British soldier during the attack on the fortress–is given pride of place at…the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Senior Researcher and historian of African art Claire Bosc-Tiessé:
“It is also time to shift this issue from one of ‘restitution’ to one of ‘return,’ by taking into account the perspective of the populations and states of origin.
In connection with the ReTours and Matrimoines/Rematriations programmes, we are working with researchers from Benin, Cameroon, Mali, Togo, Senegal, and their respective diasporas, and doing so based on methods inspired by collaborative anthropology.
For example, for Benin, memory is essentially transmitted by ‘heiresses,’ women who inherit knowledge. We meet them and show them photos or drawings of statues and amulets whose names and uses they know, along with their associated panegyrics (speech in praise of certain persons). This memory remains extremely vivid among non-French-speaking women.”
Collections of objects from Africa and Oceania dispersed across museums in France:
