Cambridge - Africa at King's: Looking Forward: African Museums Beyond Restitution and Repatriation

Looking Forward: African Museums Beyond Restitution and Repatriation

Or

Beyond Restitution: Reimagining Museum Practice in Africa

Dr. Iheanyi Onwuegbucha

Assistant Professor of African and Caribbean Modern and Contemporary Art, University of Cambridge

Recent debates on decolonizing museums have focused largely on Western colonial institutions, restitution, and the repatriation of looted objects. At the same time, a wave of new museum initiatives across Africa, together with renewed interest in African collections globally, has raised urgent questions about the future of museums on the continent. As new institutions emerge and returned objects re-enter African museums, there is a need to rethink the African museum itself.

Drawing on Dr. Onwuegbucha’s ongoing study of new private museum initiatives and existing national museums in Nigeria, this seminar shifts attention from restitution as an endpoint to the broader question of how museums in Africa might become genuinely postcolonial institutions. It asks how existing and new museums can be restructured to respect and reflect the cultural diversity, interests, and preferences of African publics. The seminar offers a starting point for wider conversations about the role and function of African museums in the twenty-first century. It considers how museum practice might be reimagined to create institutions that are more inclusive, participatory, and relevant to the communities they serve.

Please join us in the Audit Room!