Syllabus
The course centers thematically on the following debates:
• The Repatriation of Ahayu:da Zuni War Gods
• Colonial Violence and the Benin Bronzes; Benin Dialogue
• Nazi-looted art and provenance research: the Gurlitt case; Washington Principles
• Collection and Acquisition histories at the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures, restitution and provenance research, excursion
• The trade with artifacts: The “tribal art” auctions across European auction houses
• The looting(s) of Palmyra: iconoclasms and trade through ISIS/Daesh
• Dialogues with communities: the Pitt Rivers Museum and contested objects
• Collection history of central european ethnographic museums and other topics.
Annotation
This course will introduce students to recent debates on decolonizing museums by focusing on two core aspects: provenance research to understand the biographies of objects and their rightful owners or authors, and secondly, processes of restituting/repatriating objects. Students will be introduced to strategies of decolonization and actively engage with the social life of objects, their pasts, and their futures.
The course centers around the call by art historian Bénédicte Savoy and economist Felwine Sarr on the restitution of material culture looted during colonial times and what restitution must entail to become effective. Students learn to assess current debates on restitution and provenance research also in light of earlier concerns articulated by art historians, anthropologists, and post-colonial scholars.
As part of the seminar, students will be introduced to provenance research by exercises and case studies in which they will have to conduct research on objects themselves, as well as discuss current – and formulate new – strategies for decolonizing museums. The course will also feature an excursion to the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures.