Who's Right? Repatriation Of Cultural Property

Historic treasures and artifacts are often donated to or purchased by other nations to place in their museums. Often museums are given the objects with full cooperation from the originating country, but sometimes they are stolen or given for protection such as in a time of war. When nations want the artifacts returned it can cause a disagreement with the other nations of who the rightful owner is.

The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe discusses the rise of an Igbo chieftain who came from great poverty to power and the eventual loss of Igbo traditions, rites, and the influence of his clan through his eyes due to western imperialism and colonialism. The intended audience for this novel is very broad, but if we tried to define it would primarily be people who have not experienced the Igbo culture and westerners or people who speak English. In this essay I will be focusing on the last six chapters: chapters 20 to 25. These chapters highlight the loss of power and customs of the Igbo people who have succumb to colonial rule. I fell Achebe is rhetorically effective and

Cultural artifacts should not be returned to the region of Origin. Evidence is shown in the passage, “Returning Antiquities to Their Countries of Origin” paragraph 1, “Museums acquire works to display from many different

As stated in an article from debate.org, artifacts help people understand about other countries’ culture and history, in addition to their own. For example, in many American museums, such as the Field Museum, contain artifacts from other countries and civilizations. The Field Museum has ancient Mongolian clothing and jewelry. Families visit this museum every day and they learn more about Mongolian culture and artifacts. Should these artifacts be returned to Mongolia? Should we lack knowledge about their history and just be knowledgeable about ours? Similarly, as stated by debatewise.org, the most amount of people should be able to access the artifacts. For example, Americans might not find the old American flag interesting, so they wouldn’t go to a museum that only has American artifacts. They would want a variety of cultures and civilizations to take a look at. If most people think this way, there would be a larger amount of people at museums with other countries’ artifacts in them. So, artifacts should be accessible to as many people as possible who want to learn more about them and look at them. Mineralarea.edu suggests a valid point- that archaeologists worked so hard to find these artifacts.

In Basil Davidson’s video “Different but Equal,” he outlines the European perception of Africa upon their discovery of the continent. Claims that the Europeans were making about African culture, however, were far fetched and did not depict Africa in a positive manner. History according to pre-European Africa was rich and diverse, but once Europeans saw for themselves how different their continent was from Africa, they began to make up their own version of African history.

Haour, A. (2005). Power and permanence in precolonial Africa: A case study from the Central Sahel. World Archaeology, 37(4), 552-565. Retrieved from the JSTOR

9. “Benin lost their faith in gods, their art deteriorated, and human sacrifice became more common.” (page 330)

Countless art has been sought-after throughout history. Explorers, scientists, art collectors, politicians, and entrepreneurs from Western nations have sought out and removed art from the lands of great civilizations, often with the assistance and participation of local people and governments. Even as cultural property faces immediate danger today in conflict zones like Syria and Mali, there is circumstantial evidence that some nations are awakening to the political and foreign policy benefits that can flow from the repatriation of cultural patrimony. While on a different scale from World War II, historic structures, religious monuments, and other priceless ancient times continue to suffer collateral damage and manipulation in armed conflict. Relics have been stolen, smuggled and sold in what is a reported multibillion dollar underground market. They have become the illicit prizes of private collectors and the subject of legal claims against museums. Of the countless museums subject to legal claims, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City happens to be one of them. “The Metropolitan Museum has acquired thousands of works and objects of art from the antiquities”. “For the past several years, the government of Turkey has warned U.S. and foreign museums (including The Metropolitan Museum of Art), that unless ancient objects from Turkish soil are given up on demand, Turkey will stop lending artworks” (The Committee for Cultural Policy, 2015). Turkey continues to up the

The issue of artifacts that have been taken from their original homes has started some global debate. Some may say that the artifacts need to be returned to their place of origin or who found them. They may also say that there are laws saying that the artifacts should be returned. Others may say that no matter who the objects belong to the artifacts should remain in museums around the world. Artifacts should not be returned to their nations of origins.

One of the curators involved claimed that the intention of the exhibition was to “acknowledge Canada’s colonial past by examining these cultural artefacts and the processes by which they had been collected. Also to show off that White Canada had a somewhat less than perfect understanding of the richness of complex African societies.” Yet, regardless of the intent, the execution of the exhibit failed, miserably. The ROM began to face what is to this day, one of the greatest controversies they’ve had to face.

Europeans who visited Benin described both the size and scale. The structure was positioned near the courtyards with galleries and supporting pillar. As previously mentioned plaques were made in pairs/series and attached to pillars. These plaques illustrate carious aspects of the life in Benin during the 16th century. This is the period when Europe first encountered West Africa. The plaques tell the stories of Benin’s people meeting the Portuguese traders and their protectors who looked different. The Portuguese were indicators of the king’s abilities.

(Young, 2009). From a post-colonial perspective, this practice is both harmful and hegemonic – systematically devaluing the cultures of minority groups and casting them as exotic or mysterious. While this is far from the original intent of “Into the Heart of Africa”, Anthropologist Enid Schildkrout argues that it is inevitable that it becomes perceived this way - with its ambiguity and reliance on irony and juxtaposition, built upon “unrealistic, and untested, expectations about the audience” (Schildkrout 1991: p. 16). Some scholars argue that despite the exhibition’s intentions, members of the general public do often trust museums as authoritative sources, and were thus shocked by exhibit’s the violent images and seemingly colonial presentation of African artifacts. (Burret 2004, p. 139). Others draw attention to the lack of involvement of the African Canadian community, arguing that this led to a detachment between the curators of the exhibition and the needs and perspective of both its audience and subject matter (Burret 2004, p. 141). Regardless of the true cause, it is clear that there are many lessons to be drawn from this experience – from the importance of community involvement to the value of a clear presentations of themes and curatorial

It is proposed to show that the ethos of European colonial expansion largely defined and classified Benin art and dictated how it should be interpreted and displayed when first seen in European

Throughout history, art has caused wars and forged alliances. In modern times, cultural treasures are being sorted into place after much misplacement. Restitution/repatriation, the act of returning cultural treasures to their rightful owners or nation of origin, often ensues difficult legal decisions, but remains a moral necessity. This act of returning cultural treasures, grows more common due to the media’s interest or publicized legal battles. The movie “The Woman in Gold,” involving Gustav Klimt’s painting of Adele Bloch-Bauer, is an example of the influence it has on media.

This paper reflects the novel “Things Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe in 1958. Achebe gives an overview of pre-colonialism and post-colonialism on Igbo, detailing how local traditions and cultural practices can “fall apart” in some scenarios through some introduced, externally created hassles elevated because of colonization. The protagonist named Okonkwo mentioned in the story is a proof showing the lifestyle of the tribe. My main objective and focus is to lay emphasis on Africa specifically the Igbo society, before and after the arrival of the Europeans in Umuofia community; the results of their arrival concerning Igbo culture, thus leading to the clash of cultures between the two categories. I will also draw on post-colonialism with respect to globalization.