This pioneering study charts the one-way traffic of cultural and historical objects during five centuries of European colonialism. It presents abundant examples of disappeared colonial objects and systematises these into war booty, confiscations by missionaries and contestable acquisitions by private persons and other categories. Former colonies consider this as a historical injustice that has not been undone.
Former colonial powers have kept most of the objects in their custody. In the 1970s the Netherlands and Belgium returned objects to their former colonies Indonesia and DR Congo; but their number was considerably smaller than what had been asked for. Nigeria’s requests for the return of some Benin objects, confiscated by British soldiers in 1897, are rejected.
As there is no consensus on how to deal with colonial objects, disputes about other categories of contestable objects are analysed. For Nazi-looted art-works, the 1998 Washington Conference Principles have been widely accepted. Although non-binding, they promote fair and just solutions and help people to reclaim art works that they lost involuntarily.
To promote solutions for colonial objects, Principles for Dealing with Colonial Cultural and Historical Objects are presented, based on the 1998 Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art. They are part of a model to facilitate mediation in disputes about them.
Europe, the former colonisers, should do more pro-active provenance research into the acquisitions from the colonial era, both in public institutions and private collections.
“This is a very commendable treatise which has painstakingly and with detachment explored the emotive issue of the return of cultural objects removed in colonial times to the metropolis. He has looked at the issues from every continent with clarity and perspicuity.”
Prof. Folarin Shyllon (University of Ibadan)
“A monumental work of high quality. The Chapter on Congo is particularly well documented and instructive.”
Dr. Guido Gryseels (Director-General of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren)
CLUES is an international scientific series covering research in the field of culture, history and heritage which have been written by, or were performed under the supervision of members of the research institute CLUE+.
This study is the result of a fascination with the fate of the material cultural heritage of mostly vulnerable countries. The large-scale presence of cultural and historical objects in public and private collections in the countries of the former European colonisers raises serious questions.
I discovered that my own country, the Netherlands, returned a few colonial cultural objects to Indonesia in the 1970s, but that after this return nothing had happened, even though Indonesia and other former colonies had been outspoken about their desire for such objects. Whether anything can and should be done to change the maldistribution of these cultural and historical objects is the subject of this study. It charts and analyses the disappearance of cultural objects from their places of origin during the European colonial era and the returns that have taken place in order to develop a model for negotiating the future of such objects.
The study consists of six parts.
Part I, Introduction, explains why the future of colonial cultural objects is a pertinent subject and introduces the three main questions of this book. The ‘how’ of the answers – research methodology, use of sources, etc. – is presented. Frequently-used concepts are described. A typology of colonial cultural objects is offered.
Part II, Colonialism and cultural objects, aims at an overview of the disappearance of cultural objects during different periods of European colonialism. It defines decolonisation as an unresolved conflict and colonial cultural objects as a major, be it underexposed, element in this conflict.
Part III, Colonial cultural objects and the law, considers legal and protective measures taken in the colonial era and thereafter. It lists the first return claims by former colonies. A comparison is made with colonial human remains and Nazi-looted art. The question is raised whether the 1998 Washington Conference Principles for Dealing with Nazi-Confiscated Art can be translated into Principles for Dealing with Colonial Cultural and Historical Objects.
Part IV is a case study of the Netherlands and Indonesia. It analyses in two steps the ambiguities in the negotiations in the 1970s between the two countries for new cultural relations and the return of objects. The first step is based on contemporary archives and documents. The second is a complement to the first, with insights of recent research. Based on this, elements are sought that can become partof a model for negotiating the future of colonial cultural objects.
To better map the one-way traffic of objects and find more elements for the model, Part V offers case-studies of other negotiations for bilateral agreements in the 1970s and 1980s – those between Belgium and Congo, between Denmark and Iceland and Denmark and Greenland, and between Australia and Papua New Guinea. The on-going dialogue between Nigeria and some Western museums about the Benin objects in their possession is also included.
Part VI, New insights, a new approach, answers the three main questions and presents principles for dealing with colonial objects and a model with seven phases for negotiating their future.
This book is an adjusted version of the doctoral thesis, defended by the author at VU University Amsterdam on November 30, 2016
