Song Unburied is a play by Panashe Chigumadzi and directed by Daves Guzha, staged during PACC6 in Comoros. It follows a Zimbabwean curator who discovers the remains of Mbuya Nehanda in a British museum. But it couldn’t travel. And without movement, the story couldn’t do what it was meant to: reconnect, restore, remind.
Like many critical cultural works across the continent, it was held back not by lack of relevance, but by lack of mobility support. And that’s the point: stories like this must travel, not only to be seen, but to ensure that communities understand the significance of restitution and feel part of the process. Without shared understanding, return becomes symbolic. With it, it becomes transformative.
If Member States are serious about restitution, they must invest in the narratives that animate it, not just in repatriation talks, but on stage, on screen, in galleries, in books. Public funds and mobility schemes must be built to carry these stories across borders and into collective consciousness.
For the AU Plan of Action for Cultural and Creative Industries and Agenda 2063 to deliver on their promise, mobility must move from being a policy idea to a funded reality. Because only when African communities hear, feel, and retell these stories… can restitution truly begin.
