Digitale Konferenz „The Long History of Claims for the Return of Cultural Heritage from Colonial Contexts“

Die ak­tu­el­le De­bat­te um die Re­sti­tu­ti­on von Samm­lungs­gut aus ko­lo­nia­len Kon­tex­ten mag ver­gleichs­wei­se neu er­schei­nen – doch Pro­tes­te ge­gen Ent­zug und Raub von Kul­tur­gü­tern und mensch­li­chen Über­res­ten gab es be­reits seit Be­ginn der ko­lo­nia­len Ex­pan­si­on. Schon vor mehr als 100 Jah­ren ha­ben Per­so­nen, Grup­pen oder Staa­ten ihr Er­be ve­he­ment ver­tei­digt und manch­mal auch er­folg­reich zu­rück­ge­for­dert. Wis­sen­schaft­ler:in­nen aus dem Glo­ba­len Sü­den und Nor­den, Ex­pert:in­nen aus Äthio­pi­en und den Nie­der­lan­den, aus Deutsch­land und Gha­na, Ko­lum­bi­en oder den USA be­leuch­te­ten sol­che his­to­ri­schen Rück­ga­ben, er­ör­ter­ten Fall­bei­spie­le, ana­ly­sier­ten wich­ti­ge his­to­ri­sche Mo­men­te und Dy­na­mi­ken, frag­ten aber auch nach Mo­tiv­la­gen: Denn be­deu­tet Re­sti­tu­ti­on wirk­lich im­mer De­ko­lo­ni­sa­ti­on? Und was kön­nen wir aus der Ge­schich­te von Pro­tes­ten und Rück­for­de­run­gen ler­nen?

Zur Kon­fe­renz er­schie­nen drei Blog-Bei­trä­ge und ein Wor­king Pa­per:

• Rai­ner Ha­toum “Pot­latch Tre­a­su­res, Wam­pum Belts, and Sa­cred Masks. North Ame­ri­can Re­pa­tria­ti­on Ca­ses pre­ce­ding NAG­PRA”
  Rainer Hatoum [PDF 171.37 KB]
• Jan Hüs­gen “’Strong Fri­ends in Far East’. The Re­turn of Spoils of War by the GDR to Chi­na in 1955”
  Blogbeitrag Jan Huesgen [PDF 96.87 KB]
• Rein­hart Köß­ler “The re­sti­tu­ti­on of hu­man re­mains and ar­te­facts. Re­flec­ting on Na­mi­bi­an-Ger­man ex­pe­ri­ences”
  Blogbeitrag Reinhart Kossler [PDF 228.79 KB]
• Lars Mül­ler “Re­turns of Cul­tu­ral Ar­te­facts and Hu­man Re­mains in a (Post) Co­lo­ni­al Con­text. Map­ping Claims bet­ween the Mid-19th Cen­tu­ry and the 1970s” (Wor­king Pa­per Deut­sches Zen­trum Kul­tur­gut­ver­lus­te 1/2021)

https://perspectivia.net/receive/pnet_mods_00004508

Bit­te be­ach­ten Sie: Die Kon­fe­renz­spra­che war Eng­lisch. Das Gruß­wort von Kul­tur­staats­mi­nis­te­rin Mo­ni­ka Grüt­ters, der Abend­vor­trag von Béné­dic­te Sa­voy so­wie die Po­di­ums­dis­kus­si­on wa­ren in deut­scher Spra­che (mit eng­li­scher Über­set­zung).

Aus recht­li­chen Grün­den wur­den Bil­der oh­ne Quel­len­nach­weis un­kennt­lich ge­macht.

Gruß­wor­te von Gil­bert Lup­fer (Vor­stand des Deut­schen Zen­trums Kul­tur­gut­ver­lus­te), Mo­ni­ka Grüt­ters (Staats­mi­nis­te­rin für Kul­tur und Me­di­en) und Her­mann Par­zin­ger (Prä­si­dent Stif­tung Preu­ßi­scher Kul­tur­be­sitz).

Ein­lei­tung von La­ris­sa Förs­ter (Deut­sches Zen­trum Kul­tur­gut­ver­lus­te)

Keyno­te von No­el­le M.K.Y. Ka­ha­nu (Uni­ver­si­ty of Ha­wai’i at Mānoa) mit Kom­men­tar von Way­ne Mo­dest (Con­tent Di­rec­tor of the Na­tio­nal Mu­se­um of World Cul­tu­res, the Net­her­lands)

The­menschwer­punkt: Re­clai­ming cul­tu­ral he­ri­ta­ge un­der co­lo­ni­al con­di­ti­ons

Pa­nel 1: Re­sis­ting dis­pos­ses­si­on: Ear­ly pro­test and claims for the re­sti­tu­ti­on of cul­tu­ral he­ri­ta­ge

Chair:

• Au­ra Li­set­te Reyes Ga­vilán (Uni­ver­si­ty of An­tio­quia)

Spea­kers:

• Wol­bert G.C. Smidt (Fried­rich Schil­ler Uni­ver­si­ty Je­na, Ger­ma­ny / Me­kel­le Uni­ver­si­ty, Ethio­pia): “The de­ep his­to­ry of re­sti­tu­ti­on and mon­ar­chi­al power in Ethio­pia: The cul­tu­ral and lo­cal po­li­ti­cal con­text of de­man­ds for re­sti­tu­ti­on of loo­ted re­ga­lia by king of kings Yo­han­nes IV from 1872”
• Dag Hen­rich­sen (Bas­ler Afri­ka Bi­blio­gra­phi­en & De­part­ment of His­to­ry, Uni­ver­si­ty of Ba­sel): “‘No oz­o­hongue, no me­di­zi­ne’. An­ce­s­tral ‘ob­jects’ and sa­cred­ness, claims and bar­gai­ning in ear­ly co­lo­ni­al cen­tral Na­mi­bia“
• Pi­er­re Los­son (Ita­li­an Aca­de­my for Ad­van­ced Stu­dies in Ame­ri­ca, Co­lum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty): “Ar­chaeo­lo­gy in the neo­co­lo­ni­al era: Why we­re ear­ly calls for the re­turn of cul­tu­ral ob­jects to Pe­ru and Co­lom­bia igno­red?”
• Au­drey Pe­ral­di (Aix-les-Bains): “An ear­ly re­sti­tu­ti­on re­quest from Oba Aken­zua II of Be­nin: Loo­ted art, the re­turn of co­pies and the geo­po­li­ti­cal si­tua­ti­on in the 20th cen­tu­ry”

In­ter­lo­cu­tor:

• Ho­nor Kee­ler (The Aus­tra­li­an Na­tio­nal Uni­ver­si­ty)

Pa­nel 2: Re­sti­tu­ti­on be­fo­re the in­ter­na­tio­nal re­sti­tu­ti­on de­ba­te

Chair:

• Ju­lia Bin­ter (Zen­tralar­chiv, Staat­li­che Mu­se­en zu Ber­lin) - ver­tre­ten von Ma­ria Oben­aus (Deut­sches Zen­trum Kul­tur­gut­ver­lus­te)

Spea­kers:

• Pang­gah Ar­diyan­syah (SOAS Uni­ver­si­ty of Lon­don): “Ob­ject as pu­sa­ka: The 1930s re­turn of Bo­ne-Go­wa re­ga­lia and how it re­so­na­tes in­to the con­tem­po­ra­ry In­do­ne­si­an re­sti­tu­ti­on de­ba­te”
• Lars Mül­ler (State Mu­se­um of Lower Sa­xony, Ha­no­ver): “The re­turn of the Ma­fue sto­ne in the 1920s and the strug­gle of its col­lec­tor Hans Schom­burgk for his re­pu­ta­ti­on”
• Aman­da H. Hell­man (Mi­cha­el C. Car­los Mu­se­um of Emo­ry Uni­ver­si­ty): “Buil­ding a cul­tu­ral le­ga­cy and a na­tio­nal me­mo­ry: The re­pa­tria­ti­on of the Bas­com Bron­zes”

In­ter­lo­cu­tor:

• Ci­raj Ras­sool (Uni­ver­si­ty of the Wes­tern Ca­pe)

Pos­ter pre­sen­ta­ti­ons:

• Ma­ri­on Ber­tin (Cen­tre Nor­bert Eli­as - Avi­gnon Uni­ver­sité & Cen­tre de Re­cher­che en Hi­stoire In­ter­na­tio­na­le At­lan­ti­que (CR­HIA)): “The ‘Go­men Af­fair’ (1970-2020): The long his­to­ry of pro­tests and claims against traf­ficking Ka­nak ob­jects”
  Poster Marion Bertin [PDF 500.92 KB]
• Odi­le Bou­ba­keur (Éco­le du Lou­vre – Pa­ris-Saclay): “Ar­tists’ fea­thers ser­ving the con­ser­va­ti­on in si­tu of ar­chaeo­lo­gi­cal re­mains: Time­less pro­ponents of the mo­dern de­ba­tes”
• Poster Odile Boubakeur [PDF 433.42 KB]
• Gra­cia Lwan­zo Ka­son­go (Ca­tho­lic Uni­ver­si­ty of Lou­vain (UCLou­vain)): “De­co­lo­ni­zing ne­go­tia­ti­on for the re­sti­tu­ti­on of Con­go­le­se he­ri­ta­ge ac­qui­red du­ring Bel­gi­an co­lo­ni­za­ti­on”
  Poster Kasongo [PDF 469.45 KB]
• Jan Kü­ver (Uni­ver­si­ty of Iringa, Tan­za­nia, fa­ha­ri ye­tu Tan­za­nia): "Stir­ring up a hor­net's nest or let­ting slee­ping dogs lie? His­to­ri­cal nar­ra­ti­ves of the whe­rea­bouts of hu­man re­mains from Iringa, Tan­za­nia"
  Poster Kuever [PDF 2.68 MB]
• Isa­bel­la Ar­cher (Uni­ver­sité de Poi­tiers - Éco­le du Lou­vre): "Claims to the Crac des Che­va­liers du­ring the French Man­da­te and Sy­ri­an In­de­pe­nence"
  Poster Archer [PDF 1.35 MB]

The­menschwer­punkt: Re­clai­ming cul­tu­ral he­ri­ta­ge in the wa­ke of de­co­lo­ni­za­ti­on
Pa­nel 3: Is it re­al­ly de­co­lo­ni­za­ti­on? Dis­cus­sing ethics and agen­das of re­turn

Chair:

• Lars Mül­ler (State Mu­se­um of Lower Sa­xony, Ha­no­ver)

Spea­kers:

• Sa­rah van Be­ur­den (The Ohio State Uni­ver­si­ty): “Les con­ten­tieux: Past and pre­sent Bel­gi­an-Con­go­le­se de­ba­tes about re­sti­tu­ti­on”
• Klaas Stut­je (NIOD In­sti­tu­te for War Ho­lo­caust and Ge­no­ci­de Stu­dies, Ams­ter­dam): “Bet­ween ‘eve­r­y­thing’ and the most im­port­ant few: The long his­to­ry of In­do­ne­si­an Dutch re­sti­tu­ti­on de­ba­te”
• Claire Wint­le (Uni­ver­si­ty of Brighton (UK)): “Re­pa­tria­ti­on wi­thout ethics: Apa­thy and iso­la­tio­nism in the re­turn of co­lo­ni­al col­lec­ti­ons from UK mu­se­ums, 1945-1970”

• In­ter­lo­cu­tor:
  Wim Ma­nu­hu­tu (Vri­je Uni­ver­si­teit Ams­ter­dam)

Abend­vor­trag von Béné­dic­te Sa­voy (Chair for Mo­dern Art His­to­ry, TU Ber­lin): “About in­sti­tu­tio­nal and other lies” im an­schlie­ßen­den Ge­spräch mit Way­ne Mo­dest (Con­tent Di­rec­tor of the Na­tio­nal Mu­se­um of World Cul­tu­res, the Net­her­lands)

Pa­nel 4: An­ce­stors, na­tio­nal he­ros, world he­ri­ta­ge – The mea­ning of hu­man re­mains in re­pa­tria­ti­on po­li­tics

Chair:

• Sa­rah Fründt (Deut­sches Zen­trum Kul­tur­gut­ver­lus­te)

Spea­kers:

• Ge­or­ge Okel­lo Ab­un­gu (Okel­lo Ab­un­gu He­ri­ta­ge Con­sul­tants): “The lost past: Re­clai­ming a his­to­ry and iden­ti­ty bro­ken”
• Fen­ne­ke Sys­ling & Ca­ro­li­ne Drieën­hui­zen (Lei­den Uni­ver­si­ty Open Uni­ver­si­ty of the Net­her­lands): “Ja­va man: In­do­ne­si­an claims and na­tu­ral his­to­ry mu­se­ums”
• Ni­ra Wick­ra­ma­sin­g­he (Lei­den Uni­ver­si­ty): “The ma­king of na­tio­nal ob­jects: The re­turn of a thro­ne and a skull in co­lo­ni­al Sri Lan­ka”

In­ter­lo­cu­tors:

• Am­ber Ara­nui (Mu­se­um of New Zea­land Te Pa­pa Ton­ga­re­wa)

Pa­nel 5: Re­clai­ming and re­de­fi­ning the co­lo­ni­al ar­chi­ve

Chair:

• Jan Hüs­gen (Deut­sches Zen­trum Kul­tur­gut­ver­lus­te)

Spea­kers:

• Ra­kesh An­kit (Lough­bo­rough Uni­ver­si­ty): “’In trust for the three na­ti­ons’? The In­di­an of­fi­ce li­bra­ry & re­cords dis­pu­te, 1947-72”
• Ri­ley Li­ne­baugh (In­ter­na­tio­nal Gra­dua­te Cen­tre for the Stu­dy of Cul­ture at Jus­tus-Lie­big-Uni­ver­si­ty Gie­ßen): “Pur­suing co­lo­ni­al ar­chi­val re­sti­tu­ti­on: The Ke­ny­an ca­se”
• Fa­bi­enne Cha­me­lot (Uni­ver­si­ty of Ports­mouth (UK)): “Ar­chi­ves and the de­co­lo­ni­za­ti­on pro­cess in French West Af­ri­ca, 1958-1960”

In­ter­lo­cu­tor:

• For­get Cha­te­re­ra-Zam­bu­ko (Sor­bonne Uni­ver­si­ty Abu Dha­bi)

Po­di­ums­dis­kus­si­on: „What can the his­to­ry of re­sti­tu­ti­on claims and ac­tu­al re­turn te­ach us for the fu­ture?”

Chair:

• Ste­fan Kol­de­hoff (Deutsch­land­funk)

Pa­ne­lists:

• Na­d­ja Ofua­tey-Ala­zard (De­ko­lo­nia­le, Ber­lin)
• Bar­ba­ra Plan­ken­stei­ner (Di­rec­tor Mu­se­um am Ro­then­baum, Ham­burg)

On screen:

• Al­bert Gouaf­fo (Uni­ver­sité de Dschang/Ca­me­roon)
• Na­na Ofo­riat­ta Ayim (ANO In­sti­tu­te of Arts & Know­led­ge, Ac­cra, Gha­na)

• Mar­kus Hil­gert (Se­cre­ta­ry Ge­ne­ral and CEO of the Cul­tu­ral Foun­da­ti­on of the Ger­man Fe­deral States and Di­rec­tor of the re­cent­ly esta­blis­hed Ger­man Con­tact Point for Col­lec­ti­ons from Co­lo­ni­al Con­texts)