Godzo Gavua (Ghana) and Hans Peter Hahn (Germany) write:
Restitution is understood as the remobilisation of material items, accompanied by the identification of new embeddings. It fundamentally implies an appreciation of the collections concerned.
- The first chapter explains the epistemic positioning of the authors, as well as the framework, such as the relationship between restitution and coloniality, and the diversity of practices labelled by the term ‘restitution’.
- The second chapter characterises the actors involved and explains the importance of cultural heritage institutions for successful and sustainable restitution. Furthermore, some of the conditions for the remobilisation and, consequently, the revaluation of these collections are explained.
- The third chapter focuses on the collections and explains their transformation as a result of the long duration of storage and the changes in meaning through time and space. Restitution is
described as the career of objects. This applies to the repositioning of the objects to their new embeddings and functions, and to the increased public attention they receive.- As the final chapter emphasises, restitution starts long before the actual moment of return. Negotiations form part of this, as do considerations regarding the whereabouts of the objects. Restitution produces new meanings for cultural artefacts and should therefore be understood as an open-ended process.
