European museums’ excuses for not repatriating objects acquired through the power imbalances of colonialism are wearing increasingly thin. It’s time for wholesale change, writes Emma Lundin.
Generations of museum visitors in Europe have been spoiled by direct access to foreign artefacts, but it is time to give them up.
When Senegal’s president Macky Sall opened the Musée des Civilisations Noires (the Museum of Black Civilizations, “MCN”) in Dakar in December, he brought a new weapon into the arsenal of activists fighting for the repatriation of treasured objects from foreign collections. The MCN has all the mod-cons and knowledge needed to protect and preserve ancient treasures—and that might prove to be its most radical feature.
Six decades after Ghana became the first African country to gain independence from the UK, we need to decolonise our cultural institutions to counter the lasting damage wrought by imperialism...Keep reading on Prospect
Generations of museum visitors in Europe have been spoiled by direct access to foreign artefacts, but it is time to give them up.
When Senegal’s president Macky Sall opened the Musée des Civilisations Noires (the Museum of Black Civilizations, “MCN”) in Dakar in December, he brought a new weapon into the arsenal of activists fighting for the repatriation of treasured objects from foreign collections. The MCN has all the mod-cons and knowledge needed to protect and preserve ancient treasures—and that might prove to be its most radical feature.
Six decades after Ghana became the first African country to gain independence from the UK, we need to decolonise our cultural institutions to counter the lasting damage wrought by imperialism...Keep reading on Prospect