Looted and illegally acquired African objects in European museums: issues of restitution and repatriation in Ghana

Abstract

Ghana’s post-independence governments have made a number of requests for the return of looted and illegally acquired Ghanaian cultural objects in the collections of European museums. While the majority of those requests were denied, a few were honoured. This paper assesses three of the demands and the aftermath of their return. It also examines the preparedness of heritage institutions and museums in Ghana inrelation to issues of restitution and repatriation. The paper identifies the numerous challenges confronting the museum and heritage sector in Ghana and concludes by calling on policy makers, traditional authorities, universities and the government of Ghana to deepen public awareness of cultural heritage, invest more in museums and heritage institutions to function well and revisit earlier demands that were denied.

Community Museums as Holding Centres for Returned Nigerian Cultural Heritage

“…Tourists who hitherto had visited foreign museums to see the artefacts will come to Nigeria for the same purpose; hence, there will be increase in revenue generation. Currently, some of the looted Nigerian artefacts serve as economic wealth for museums in the Western nations while the source nations suffer untold economic and non-economic losses (Akinyi 2022, Dzidzienyo andNkumbaan 2020). It is therefore strategic for Nigerian communities whose artefacts are returned to establish community museums in line with their cultural idiosyncrasies to be able to attract visitors and tourists.…”

Chisi Chako Masimba Mashoma/Kunzi Pakata Sandi Kunzi Ridza: Anthropological Musings on the Coloniality of Dispossession in Africa

“…Defining colonization and coloniality in terms of kupamba (to dispossess, loot, steal, rob, and plunder) rather than in terms of mere existence of hierarchies, structures, order, dominance, power, and binaries, the Shona people focus on the crimes of dispossessing, stealing, plundering, and looting, for which Africans are increasingly demanding reparations and restitution from colonialists (Chitonge, 2022;Dunham, 2017;Howard-Hassmann, 2004;Spitzer, 2021;Wittmann, 2016). From an African point of view, colonialists are known to have dispossessed Africans, stolen African land, minerals, livestock, and other properties including cultural artifacts which are yet to be restored back to the African owners (Benyera, 2018;Chitonge, 2019;Dawson, 2011;Dzidzienyo & Nkumbaan, 2020;Effiboley, 2020;Ehlers, 1992;King, 2017;Moyana, 1984;Moyo & Yeros, 2013;Mthembu-Salter, 2019;Palmer, 1977;The Patriot, 2017;Peires, 1976;Penn, 1995;The Sunday Mail, 2016;Sesanti, 2019;Viljoen, 1997;Werner, 1993). Building on insights from historical anthropology which, as Gurevich and Gurevich (1992) argue, aims to reconstruct the subjective reality which formed the consciousness of people of a given epoch and culture, this paper postulates what I call the coloniality of dispossession; which is sensitive to the Shona notion of kupamba.…”