Who Benefits When Western Museums Return Looted Art?
The repatriation of stolen objects has become a ritual of self-purification through purgation—but who it really serves is less clear than it might seem.
Verso
The first article in a five-part series examining the ‘imperial boomerang effect’ and its operation in a range of contexts.
Forgotten photos show how Kenyan archaeologists unearthed secrets of their own country | Archaeology | The Guardian
Exhibitions in UK and Africa rewrite history by celebrating discoveries of overlooked black excavators in colonial era
Many of the Kenyan excavators, who would typically open the trenches and dig the various layers by following the various strata, had expert local knowledge about the ancient sites, including their geology, histories and oral traditions. This knowledge was highly prized by the European scholars, who rarely did any digging themselves. But it was colonial practice, to intentionally “forget” the contributions of Africans to African history, Abungu said. “And the scholars went along with that.”