The Macondo Literary Festival, an international event connecting Africa’s histories and futures through literature held in Nairobi later in September, had an early panel discussion, hosted by Mutanu Kyany’a of African Digital Heritage.
L.t.r. Mutanu Kyany’a, Ngwatilo Mawiyoo and Bénédicte Savoy
The panel brought together poet, writer and filmmaker Ngwatilo Mawiyoo alongside French art historian Bénédicte Savoy, a leading authority on the provenance and restitution of looted cultural heritage.
The panellists explored why an estimated 90–95% of African artefacts remain in Western museums and private collections, despite these items being an integral part of our history and heritage. African artifacts and manuscripts were systematically looted and hidden in plain sight, directly undermining the continent’s heritage and intellectual traditions.
“The French, for instance, were very keen on books in Africa when they looted many historical and significant items,” Savoy noted.
Categorising these works as manuscripts Arabes is a mechanism used to silence African intellectual contributions, insisting that the necessary resolution is for France and other western nations to return these manuscripts and artifacts to their countries of origin, such as Mali, Senegal and Guinea.
