The project analyses the temporal change of restitution governance through museums as imperial institutions and their normative structures from a longue durée perspective, both in terms of policies and public discourse, revealing how nation-states deal with their colonial legacies over time.
An inter-imperial lens accounts for the historical multiplicity of power sites between competing empires in which museums were embedded, allowing current processes of global restitution governance to be understood as the long-term aftermath of those entanglements.
The project contemplates a qualitative analysis employing a comparative methodology to analyse Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It analyses and compares these three states’ restitution governance and policies towards the Global South (America and Africa) and complements this with a multilateral perspective on the UNESCO’s role.
The units of analysis are primarily state actors and museums, which is why representations of the repatriation debate in the media and their relationship with state discourses are also analysed.
The case of the Mexican Feather Headdress and the Benin Bronzes serve as magnifying glasses to analytically demonstrate not only the asymmetrical power dynamics in restitution processes, but also the ongoing colonialism and imperialism in the current international system.
The project is part of DFG Research Training Group 2571 “Empires. Dynamic Change, Temporality and Post-Imperial Orders”
