It was the Law at the Time: Museums, Colonialism, and the Question of Property

1 Course Unit

Current discussions about who owns cultural property, especially in relation to objects acquired under and during Europe's colonial project, form their arguments, limits and possibilities around international legal instruments such as UNESCO's conventions on cultural property. Like broader claims for reparations by formally colonized peoples, legal demands for reparations or restitution with regard to cases of colonial injustice often run up against responses such as 'it was the law at the time' or 'it was a long, long time ago and therefore there are no legal venues for claimants today'. The CARICOM-claim regarding reparations for slavery submitted by a number of Caribbean states, as well as demands regarding cultural treasures looted in the late 19th century in different parts of Africa and elsewhere, are clear examples of this phenomenon. Proposed solution for these conflicts almost always circumvent questions of ownership (at the time) or other legal possibilities. They are sought in extra-legal ways. Increased attention for these and similar cases have fueled new research into the histories of slavery and colonialism, and into the provenance of colonial cultural objects in Western museums. Similarly there is an increasing number of research projects that explore, for example, the fate of colonial objects in Europe, in relation to the fate of Nazi-looted art. While the legal limits of current claims form part of the investigation of many of these studies, they often fail to pay serious attention to the relationship between the law and the colonial project itself. Importantly, they also fail to explore the relationship between the law, questions of property and the 'creation' of the colonized subject. This seminar will focus on this nexus and will interrogate the role of law within the colonial era, especially with regard to the legal fashioning of hierarchies of colonial subjects and colonial objects. In what ways is the law implicated the colonial project itself, and what role did it place in the fashioning of colonial subjects and colonial objects? Moreover, what role should an attentiveness at the law play in today's debates around reparation or restitution/ These are some of the key questions that the course will explore. Bringing together readings from legal and political philosophy, material culture and critical heritage studies, this course explores some of the key debates and texts surrounding questions of law, philosophy, colonialism and questions around reparations or restitution of cultural objects. Students will be introduced to the works of some of the key thinkers on which contemporary notions of ownership, the legal subject and (cultural) property are based, probing their genealogy in relation to the racial hierarchies established under the colonial project. We will explore both the history and application of legal frameworks that governed colonial subjects and (cultural) objects alike and their basis in legal philosophy. Is there reason to rethink the role of law within debates around reparations and restitution? And, last but not least: are there reasons to rethink the idea of property itself? What other genealogies of the law can we trace to think differently about ownership of (cultural) property? Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit