#museum ethics
The Smithsonian’s Plan to Return the Benin Bronzes Comes After Years of Relationship Building
“For decades, Nigerians have called for the return of those stolen artifacts, and at last, museums in Europe and the United States have finally begun listening. The Smithsonian Institution is now taking steps to return some of these artworks in its collections, a decision rooted in both a forthcoming policy on ethical collecting, and in a decade-long partnership with the Nigerian community that helped foster mutual trust and a shared vision.”
Good morning,
museums should repatriate artifacts belonging to living cultures and display reproductions instead
Good afternoon,
no one is entitled to the sacred art, tools, or costumes of another culture (save members of the culture itself) and nonsacred reproductions will serve just as well for the purposes of education and appreciation
Good evening,
having museums full of reproductions would be even cooler than having museums full of sacred artifacts because when modern craftspeople are able to replicate those artifacts, it’s usually because they still make the same items the same way today
this means that you could have description tags emphasizing that such-and-such item has been made by these people in almost the same way for hundreds of years
having museums full of beautiful reproductions takes the emphasis off of Things and places it on the People who make them, which is really as it should be
Goodnight,
keeping stolen items is also theft, and making excuses or justifications for that theft, including denying that it is theft, reproduces white supremacy and is racist af
