Beyond “To Return or Not To Return” – The Benin Bronzes as a Game Changer?

Abstract

“These works notably stand among the highest heights of European casting”. This is what Felix von Luschan, the curator of the ethnographic museum in Berlin, wrote in 1919 in his book on the Benin objects. Their looting in 1897 foreshadowed a scramble for cultural colonial objects in the heydays of colonial collecting. Today, they stand at the forefront of discussions on return, including new forms of consent, ownership, or re-appropriation. They constitute a special case and have triggered a novel race for returns. This contribution traces some of the violence and colonial stereotypes underpinning their taking, different perceptions of the objects, and contemporary ethical and legal frames for their return. It argues that the contemporary debate over the Benin Bronzes reflects certain changes in the attitude towards return in general; changes which are grounded in the interplay between justice, ethics, and human rights. It challenges the argument that takings were acceptable according to the standards of the time. At the same time it cautions that the current movement towards return should not turn into a cosmetic ritual of self-purification, which detracts from necessary reforms at the macro level.