As terrorists know very well, a great way to destroy or subjugate a civilization is to burn down, confiscate or steal their symbols. A vast number of Africa’s cultural artefacts, both sacred and artistic, are today held in both Europe and America, ostensibly to enable museums to ‘open windows’ into the world. Or, as this argument goes, so that the world can see these objects in the context of the evolution of humanity.
Oh, please. Eagle-eyed readers will have spotted the elephant in the room with this one: it deviously shuffles away from the issue of ownership, which, of course, is the reason why the debate is being held in the first place. We all know that there are other ways of providing ‘a window into the world’, which, oddly, do not require the act of looting. Loaning, perhaps?
What is the central issue for Africans?
There are, indeed, issues to be discussed around the detail of repatriating the stolen art, not least the logistics of repatriating these artefacts to their rightful owners. But that is not the central issue. The central issue is one of identity, of which symbols and art are a core part. It should not be complicated: if I were to take something of yours without asking, and you were to ask for it back, most of us would agree that it is I who should return the item. It’s the morally right thing to do. In the case of the looted objects, we are not just talking about some random object, but artefacts that define the very essence and identity of civilization, much like Stonehenge is associated with Britain’s history, or the pyramids are associated with Egyptian civilization.
Calls have strengthened for looted art to be returned to their countries of origin, galvanised first by a 2018 report commissioned by France looking into these centuries-old injustices. More recently, momentum has been given to the issue by the recent Black Lives Matter activism. France’s President Macron has himself become a leading European voice in calls for the repatriation of the stolen African art, and this itself is of huge significance as he is someone with the political power to make real change. The report itself was a shocker, revealing, for example, that up to 95% of Africa’s cultural heritage is held outside Africa.
Any historical context around the looting of African artefacts?
There’s plenty. Here’s your starter for one: on 9 February 1897, the Benin royal kingdom stood proudly as a beacon of achievement for black African civilizations. Benin’s earthworks could lay claim to being the world’s largest collection from the pre-mechanical age. However, on 10 February 1897, the British army stormed the city to forcibly overthrow the king. By 18 February, British soldiers had burned the city of Benin down. Valuable artworks from the royal palace as well as from civilian homes were seized in a bloody massacre, ostensibly as a punishment for the king’s men’s killing of seven British officials demanding control of regional trade.
Possibly more than 3,000 artefacts (the Benin Bronzes) were looted and sent to Britain, with 40 per cent of the artworks taken to the British Museum. The remaining plunder was sold across Europe and America. Much of the art ended up in major museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
What has happened so far?
The Victoria and Albert Museum offered to loan (!) Ethiopia’s own artistic treasures to Ethiopia. Despite activist pressure in the form of an online petition and a missive from Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments requesting that Christie’s stop the sale of revered Igbo sculptures in Paris, the sale took place. However, on 16 July 2020 France took its first legal step towards restitution to Benin and Senegal:
‘The French cabinet discussed a draft law yesterday allowing the restitution of 26 looted artefacts to Benin and a historic sword to Senegal, the first legislative step towards fulfilling French President Emmanuel Macron’s 2017 pledge to return African heritage taken during the colonial era.
‘The law, which compels the authorities to return the artefacts within one year, is necessary to bypass a principle of French law under which treasures in public museum collections are deemed “inalienable”.’
Germany is apparently undergoing discussions to return more than 400 Benn Bronzes by autumn at the earliest.
How about in the UK? In March 2021, the University of Aberdeen agreed to return a Benin Bronze to Nigeria ‘within weeks’ per CNN, making the university one of the first public organisations to do so. The university agreed, in effect, that the sculpture had been stolen – or in the words of Aberdeen’s head of museums Neil Cutis, “looted”. Another British institution, the University of Cambridge’s Jesus College, plans to return another Bronze.
The British Museum, which itself has hundreds of Benin Bronzes, has formed a ‘Benin Dialogue Group’, which you can read more about here. It says that discussions are ‘ongoing’.
What are some of the important artefacts stolen by colonisers?
“It’s part of our identity, part of our heritage…which has been taken away from us for many years.”
Professor Abba Isa Tijani, director general of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments.
Indeed. The important aspect of all of this is that repatriation comprises diverse elements of African cultural heritage: art, archive materials, ceremonial objects, human remains and intangibles such as sound recordings and photographs.
The Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Belgium, is believed to hold at least 180,000 artistic works. The Musée du Quai Brany Jacques Chirac in France is said to have amassed up to 70,000. The Weltmuseum of Vienna, Austria, is estimated to have around 37,000 artistic pieces. At least 287 Benin City artworks are listed in the Dresden state’s collection online. The Benin Bronzes are a collection of skilfully made sculptures and plaques that once adorned the royal palace in Benin. You can watch this passionate YouTube video to learn more about particularly important artefacts, which include the Bangwa Queen (Cameroon), Zimbabwe’s birds, Cameroonian masks and Egyptian Mummies.
These artistic works embody our African history, culture and identity. Returning them to their country of origin means that young generations of Africans can see their rich, magnificent history with pride, a sense of identity, a sense of belonging. We need them to help us know who we are and where we come from. Send them back.
Sources
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/french-cabinet-approves-law-allowing-restitutions-to-benin-and-senegal
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/28/time-repatriate-africa-looted-art-artifacts-cultural-heritage-benin-bronzes-nigeria-ghana-europe-british-museum/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijJenyrIo0w
https://www.imodara.com/magazine/send-it-back/
