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Displaying loot. The Benin objects and the British Museum
Abstract
This study deals with the objects, now in the British Museum, that were
looted from Benin City, present-day Nigeria, in 1897. It looks at how the
museum represents the Benin objects, the Edo/African, the British/Westerner,
and the British Museum. According to the museum, the Benin objects
provide the “key argument” against the return of objects in its collections.
The study pays particular attention to how the museum’s representations
relate to its retentionist argument.
The museum maintains that it was founded to foster tolerance, dissent,
and respect for difference, and that it today shows many different cultures
without privileging any of them. The museum’s benevolent impact
is exemplified by the Benin objects whose arrival in the West has led to
the shattering of European derogatory stereotypes of Africans, thanks to
British Museum scholars.
The study examines these claims and finds that they rest on flimsy or
no evidence. The museum misrepresents and glorifies its own past and
exaggerates its own contribution to Benin scholarship and the European
view of Africans. The museum has shown cultures, not as equal, but
as placed in a hierarchy, and in the early 20th century its scholars gave
scientific legitimization to the stock stereotypes of Africans, such as the
likening of Blacks to apes.
The analysis of the museum’s contemporary exhibition and accompanying
publications show that the museum – still – represents self and
other as different: the Edo/African is portrayed as traditional while the
Westerner is portrayed as progressive.
The study concludes that, despite the museum’s claim to universality,
its representations are deeply enmeshed in, and shaped by, British
(museum) traditions and cultural assumptions. Paradoxically, while
the statement of objectivity and impartiality is central to the museum’s
defense against claims, it seems that the ownership issue strongly contributes
to the biases in its representations.
Keywords: Benin, Benin bronzes, Benin objects, Britain, British Museum,
colonialism, cultural property, Edo, heritage, loot, museums, museum
studies, Nigeria, racism, repatriation, representation, restitution, war
booty, Westernness.
... Lundén, Staffan, 2016, Displaying Loot. The Benin Objects and the British Museum, Göteborg: University of Gothenburg. ...
Forskningsprojektet Museologiska inramningar av islam i Europa (Museological framings of Islam in Europe) har pågått mellan 2015 och 2018 och sammanfattas nu i den populärvetenskapliga boken Musealt islam.
Forskarna har undersökt hur museer har framställt islam under perioden 1945-2014, på en rad museer i Storbritannien och Tyskland: exempelvis British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Museum für Islamische Kunst och Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archeology. Utblickar har även gjorts mot museer i Paris och Köpenhamn.
Projektet är finansierat av Vetenskapsrådet.
... Katulad ng Canada at Pilipinas, malawakan itong nagaganap sa buong mundo. Halimbawa ang pagnanakaw ng Estados Unidos sa mga artipak ng Lydian sa Usak, Turkey (Brodie at Renfrew, 2005); pagkawala ng Elgin Marble, Rosetta Stone, at artipak ng mga Etruscan (Waxman, 2008); mga artipak ng Edo sa Benin na matatagpuan ngayon sa British Museum (Lunden, 2016); at marami pang iba. Kaya't problematiko talaga ang museolohiya kung minsan. ...
Mahalaga ang museolohiya sa pagturol ng identidad. Ito ang disiplinang nagdurugtong sa mga bagay na nahahawakan (tangible) at hindi nahahawakan (intangible). Maaari nating tuntunin ang isang kalinangan at Kasaysayan na mayroon ang isang lipunan sa pamamagitan ng museolohiya. Bagama’t ang sinuring aklat ay hindi direktang pumapatungkol sa Pilipinas, naniniwala namang may talab at maiuugnay ito sa kung ano ang naging karanasan ng Pilipinas at Canada bilang mga estadong nasa rehiyon ng Asya-Pasipiko. Gayumpaman, isa itong akdang nasa wikang Ingles na nirebyu gamit ang wika, pananaw, at kaunawaang F/Pilipino.
Este artigo analisa os projetos de arquitetura contemporânea referentes a novos
museus e sua relação com a demanda pela repatriação de acervos museológicos. A
metodologia baseia-se no estudo do projeto arquitetônico do Grande Museu Egípcio (GME) – ainda em fase de consolidação – em diálogo com as experiências do Museu da Acrópole, em Atenas, e do Museu Real do Benim. Localizado a cerca de dois quilômetros das Pirâmides de Gizé, o GME está sendo construído com padrões de excelência para acondicionar e expor
suas coleções egiptológicas. Seu desenvolvimento foi fruto de uma competição internacional de arquitetura promovida pelo governo egípcio, que selecionou três projetos finalistas: Rizzi, Himmelblau e Peng. Entendemos que essas propostas podem ser interpretadas a partir de três figuras importantes que nortearam o desenvolvimento de formas arquitetônicas contemporâneas: a tumba, o templo e a pirâmide. Consideramos que o projeto do GME está vinculado ao processo de consolidação da estruturação museal egípcia, que pode se relacionar aos pedidos de repatriação (ou mesmo empréstimo) de acervos museológicos, empreendidos desde 2002 no país pelo arqueólogo egípcio Zahi Hawass. Acreditamos que o caso do GME, assim como
os outros exemplos citados, contribui para desarticular o argumento da falta de condições para armazenamento e pesquisa dos acervos museológicos.
Larawan ng isang lipunan ang pagkakaroon ng mga museo bilang lagakan o repositoryo hindi lamang ng mga kulturang materyal ngunit maging ng mga salaysaying-bayang nakakabit sa pambansang kasaysayan at pambansang kamalayan ng mga mamamayan nito. Gayumpaman, bukod sa naghahatid ito ng iba’t ibang anyo ng kaalaman, kung minsan ay nagiging aparato rin ng mga propagandang maaaring mag-angat o magsantabi sa isang partikular na pangkat. Dahil karamihan sa mga museo ay binuo sa panahong post-kolonyal, maaaring pagnilayan ang namamayaning naratibo, representasyon, at pag-alala sa mga ito. Sa bawat museo, naitatanghal ba ang mga katutubo, kolonyal, o post-kolonyal na kaisipan at pagpapakahulugan? Patas ba ang pakikisangkot ng bayan bilang nilalaman at bida ng mga museo o tagakingkilik o tagamasid lamang sila sapagkat dominante na rin ito ng mga naghahari at makapangyarihang naratibo?
Aambagan ng sanaysay na ito ang napapanahon at makabagong pagtingin sa museolohiyang kakawala sa naghaharing pananaw at pamantayan ng Kanluran– na kadalasa’y nagtanghal, walang humpay na nagbigay ng pagpapakahulugan sa Silangan nitong mga nagdaang panahon. Bagama’t hinugot at isinentro lamang ito mula sa mga personal na paglalakbay, pagsusuruy-suroy, at obserbasyon ng may-akda sa mga museo nang siya’y maglakbay sa iba’t ibang bansa sa Asya-Pasipiko at Europa sa pagitan ng taong 2014 at huling bahagi ng 2019, naglatag naman ito ng ilang mga kritikal na pagsusuri at pagtingin tungkol sa (1) pagkakahati at nilalaman ng mga museong kanyang narating; (2) kalagayan ng mga artipak (sampu ng mga posibleng isyu rito); at (3) representasyon at layuning “isabansa” ang mga museo, na siyang maaaring ilapat din sa lipunang Pilipino. Liban pa rito, nilayon din ng sanaysay na ambagan ang umuusbong na Araling Kabanwahan – pag-aaral tungkol sa ugnayan/pag-uugnay-ugnay ng Pilipinas at ng mga ibang bayan sa labas nito na kung saan umaayon sa diwa, talastasan, at tunguhin ng pagkaPilipino.
Working Paper German Lost Art Foundation
This article aims to analyze the question of the restitution or repatriation of cultural heritage, especially the artifacts from sub-Saharan Africa from the publication of the Savoy-Sarr Report, completed in 2018. We’ll look at the case of the Benin Bronzes, taken from Africa in the nineteenth century and currently distributed in different museological institutions, mainly in France and England. Thus, we hope that the reflections mentioned here may inspire other possibilities in relation to the restitution of cultural heritage.
The debate over the restitution of cultural property is usually framed as the dispute between what John Henry Merryman defined as ‘cultural nationalism’ and ‘cultural internationalism’: the opposite viewpoints that argue whether cultural heritage objects should be returned to their countries of origin or spread around the world as determined by other principles. I argue, however, that the concepts are problematic both in their definition and their perception as two dialectically opposed sides of a dispute. This article analyses the restitution debate by examining some of the most important arguments and counterarguments used in the debate and by comparing them to the international law ‘New Stream’ theory. It is revealed that a similar indeterminacy which defines international law in the theory also defines the restitution debate, and that cultural nationalism and internationalism do not in fact provide answers to the debate but only function as two entry points that echo each other without a way to end the debate. Therefore, it is necessary to see beyond the two concepts in order to find solutions to the disputes.
O presente artigo tem como objetivo analisar a questão da restituição ou repatriação dos bens culturais, especialmente os artefatos da África subsaariana, a partir da publicação do Relatório Savoy-Sarr, concluído em 2018. Analisaremos o caso dos bronzes do Benin, retirados da África no século XIX, e atualmente distribuídos em diferentes instituições museológicas, sobretudo na França e na Inglaterra. Dessa forma, ensejamos que as reflexões aqui apontadas possam inspirar outras possibilidades em relação à restituição patrimonial.
This chapter analyses contemporary European exhibition of Islamic art using framing theory paired with the perspective of Beverly Serrell’s Exhibit Label (1996). The thesis is that exhibitions lacking one ‘big idea’ often become vague, cluttered and confusing. Most exhibitions of Islamic artefacts in Europe are arranged chronologically and geographically, often further subdivided according to dynasties, material, technique, location and time. Different logics of categorisation are intertwined in a way that makes exhibition narratives very complex. The big framing idea—if there is one—gets lost in the detail. Dynastic labelling, in particular, is more of a scaffold than an actual historical narrative for all those who are not already closely acquainted with Islamic political history. According to the perspective presented herein, categories that specify the date and place of objects must be selected in relation to the big idea they are intended to convey. Via close readings, this chapter explores if there are ‘big ideas’ behind the curating of Islamic art collections in Europe.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.