Damola Durasomo, 'Taking Back Our History: Understanding African Art Repatriation' OkayAfrica Apr. 16, 2018:
Earlier this month, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London responded to a claim by the Ethiopian government to retrieve items taken from the 1868 battle of Maqdala by suggesting that Ethiopia take them out on a long-term loan. The items, which were taken from the mountain capital of Emperor Tewodros II in the area formerly known as Abyssinia, include a gold crown, a royal wedding dress, the bones of Prince Alemayehu, Emperor Tewodros II son who was captured and taken to Britain where he died at just 18, and more. The audacious suggestion that the items be "loaned" back was a clear disregard for cultural ownership, a reinforcement of colonial attitudes that once again stripped African countries of their culture and agency.Durasomo,spoke to Brooklyn-based cultural anthropologist ed cultural anthropologist Niama Safia Sandy about it:
The Victoria and Albert Museum's position smacks of the hubris produced by white hegemony and centuries of imperialist attitudes. Tristram Hunt's supposed "philosophical case for the cosmopolitanism" in the nature of museum collections is totally undercut by virtue of the fact that the items were stolen. Furthermore, they were stolen from places that have a tremendous amount of cultural and spiritual importance to Ethiopians. Provenance, the method in which an item was acquired, matters. Let us not forget the "Abyssinian Expedition of 1868," from whence the majority of these artifacts came, was essentially a campaign to put Abyssinia (as Ethiopia was known then) in its place. They brought nearly 40,000 British and Indian soldiers and logistics personnel, and almost 30,000 animals including elephants to Ethiopia to retrieve about a dozen people being held by Emperor Tewodross II. Tewodross II is the first modern ruler to unite the many kingdoms of Ethiopia, hence the title negus negast or "King of Kings." He was the first to make efforts to modernize the country. They wanted to make an example of Abyssinia and show the might of the British Empire. The British military literally burned his entire citadel to the ground, but not before desecrating his body, the place he worshiped, and pillaging the entire village of Maqdala. Today there is still a lock of the Emperor's hair in the Imperial War Museum. In the context of all of this, it is inconceivable that a reasonable person would suggest a "long-term" loan. Ethiopians, including Emperor Yohannes I and citizen groups like AFROMET (the Association for the Return of The Maqdala Ethiopian Treasures), have been rallying to return these items for over a century!
She adds that the whole affair has a political context:
This, and many other things in the museum world, is about power. The thinking for leadership at museums and heritage institutions is "if we return this country's artifacts, we'll have to return that country's artifacts" and it is basically a matter of blood in the water. What is to stop every country in the world outside of the West from requesting their cultural artifacts back? I agree that a fully inclusive and cosmopolitan view of the world's histories and heritages must be shown and preserved but the manner in which the items are procured really should be considered.
