Loot, Empire and the Decolonial: Human Rights and the Politics of Cultural Restitution

Undergraduate / Graduate

Who owns culture and where do cultural objects belong? This course explores the cultural politics of the growing movement in the global South demanding the return of objects now housed in Western museums that are the legacies of looting and the illicit trafficking of cultural heritage under 19th and 20th century imperial regimes. We will examine the larger historical, human rights and ethical issues underlying movements for cultural restitution by examining critical cases involving African, Greek and Cambodian cultural heritage looted during the colonial era and now housed at the Musée du Quai Branly and Musée Guimet in Paris, the British Museum in London and the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. Along with classroom readings and discussion, we will meet curators, policymakers, scholars and activists who are actively involved in the contemporary politics of cultural restitution. Museum visits in Paris will be supplemented a short field trip to London (and perhaps Berlin) to better appreciate the transnational dimensions of movements for repatriating cultural heritage.