AFRICA’s STOLEN ARTEFACTS: MISUSE IN MUSEUMS

A look into the misplacement of African artefacts across the Western world, and the reluctance to give them back.

A THREAD

What inspired this thread was an article I came across, concerning France “loaning back” some very incredible statues to Benin. Immediately the question came to my mind, "well how did they get there?”

I think we know how (without accusing the west of violent, torturing acts of terrorism in quest for colonialism, of course). It did not surprise me that they’d been stolen by French officials, after gained colonial control of the region. Like many other African artefacts

Immediately I thought of the famous museum scene in the film Black Panther, when Killmonger says to a white curator “how do you think your ancestors got these?" the visitor asks. "You think they paid a fair price? Or did they take it — like they took everything else?"

Surprised at actually how deliberate Marvel were in their calling out the haunting colonial past of the western world. Colonisers couldn’t invade lands, kill , rape & enslave communities and receive sacred African artefacts as a parting gift. It is clear that they were stolen.

“Up to 90% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s material cultural legacy is outside of the continent" (Sarr and Savoy, 2018), below is a table [by QuartzAfrica] that highlights the extent of this approximately

Let’s look at France in more detail. In what was known as the 'Toucoleur empire' in the Guinea-Senegal-Mali region in 1890, the French staged a bloody siege in the capital, the 'Segou royal palace'. They siezed the city of Ouossebougou and in addition to the murdering and (cont)

(cont).. looting. French officials plundered over a thousand pieces of significant cultural heritage including the sabre of the founder of the empire, El Hadj Omar Tall.

It took almost 130 years to return this sabre which bears a specific symbolic cultural & spiritual significance to people, back to Senegal. The ancestral family of El Hadi Omar Tall's kingdom had to travel from all around West Africa to attend the very emotional hand (cont)

(cont).. over ceremony that "marked a historic moment of victory for the descendants of the anti-colonial hero, who have been demanding the return of his artefacts since 1944" (Kimeria, 2019).

France were under hot water when in 2006, the Quai Branly museum saw an appropriate gesture to make by “lending” a set of wooden half-human and half animal statues, along with carved furniture to the country of Benin. How do you LEND something back to its rightful owner?

Originally seized from the region by a French military expedition in 1892, they were housed in a Beninese museum called the Fondation Zinsou" (Jacobs, 2019). The statues were loaned back to , much delight to the natives who were keen to see the monumental pieces returned (cont)

(cont)..Marie-Cécile Zinsou, the founder of the museum, said people "lined up for 3 to 4 hours, and that visitors to the exhibition left lots of messages of gratitude in the visitors' book" (Jacobs, 2019). But the visitors also wondered why the objects must be returned to France?

France have not been so receptive to the idea of returning the artefacts to Benin on a permanent basis, instead they chose to extend the borrowing period of the statues so they can be housed in a new museum that is set to open in Benin in 2021. For now, the statues are back in

And what about Belgium? Will they face their colonial past? It came as no shock to me when I heard of the Africa Museum in Belgium, where 85 percent of the museum's collection comes from the Congo DR

The museum director says "some were brought by missionaries, others were brought by civil servants... also, some were resulting from military expeditions and sometimes even from plundering." For decades, leaders have asked for the return of these objects which have refused.

As recent as last month, announced they are set to return the remains of Patrice Lumumba back to Congo. Disturbingly, a Belgian police officer admitted to stealing Patrice Lumumba's tooth in 1961 after he was deceased. But it is Belgium’s response to this that is shocking...

Eric Van Duyse, spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office, said in a lifeless justification for the heinous act, that the tooth would be returned to the DRC; he described it as a symbolic gesture, since there was no “absolute certainty” that the tooth belonged to Lumumba..

Excuses have been made, like: returning African art may leave several empty shelves in museums. And European historians in African art have argued:

“more objects on view — in more settings, in more museums, in more places around the world — that sounds like a great solution".

What this sounds like to me is European governments & art collectors trying their upmost to justify these objects being outside of the continent. Negating the point that the artefacts were stolen , or taken without consent, or forcefully taken. Why the need to hold on to them?

Let’s not forget Great Britain. Ethiopia want answers. - The Afromet (the Association For the Return Of the Magdala Ethiopian Treasures) has been fighting for the return of cultural items seized by the British army at Magdala in 1868.

They received what they described as a bitter-sweet response to the request for the return of the artefacts, including a gold crown and a royal wedding dress. , like France, agreed to return the artefacts from the Victoria & Albert Museum back to as part of a long term loan.

also house 11 sacred wood and stone tablets. They are Christian plaques, or 'tabots', that "represent the Ark of the Covenant, and they belong to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, who believe only priests should be viewing them" (Trilling, 2019).

When Ethiopia enquired about the tabots, which have no use to anyone in England especially considering they belong to the Ethiopian Orthodox church and are sacred; not meant to be seen - the answer was no. The most that Britain are willing to do, is consider a long-term loan.

and it’s not JUST Europe. There has been complaints of misrepresentation of African art in the USA too.

In April 2018, Brooklyn museum chose to hire a white woman specifically to oversee the African art collection in the museum.

The hiring decision came much to the displeasure of inhabitants of Brooklyn & naturally incited a critical response from people of colour. In an open letter to the Brooklyn Museum recovered by Adisa-Farrah (2018), a member of the public expressed their concern. It read:

The Brooklyn museum did not apologise. Many have tried to discount the outrage as a "fight and battle for African heritage" (Okeke-Aguly, 2018) - suggesting that the outrage was not sincere. People labelled the woman hired as illegitimate and an interloper...

So as we can see, there is clear misuse happening in western museums where African artefacts are concerned. Although this thread doesn’t account for all western museums and special African artefacts, there are a number of them scattered around the world! Africa needs them back

I have written a blog post on this because there was so much detail I could not include! There are more references in the post and I think it’s important this #BlackHistoryMonth to expose this truth! Check it out here: http://ssozinha.com/post/africa-s-stolen-artefacts-misuse-in-museums

Thank you for reading the thread ! I apologise for the length! But hope you enjoyed reading and learned something new don’t forget to subscribe to my blog http://ssozinha.com/subscribe  for more african history content