Abstract
In 2020, French senators unanimously voted to return 27 objects held in the country’s museums to Benin and Senegal. When speaking to the French Press, Roselyne Bachelot, the French Minister of Culture, said, “the bill is not an act of repentance, but an act of friendship and trust (Selvin, 2020).” Without repentance, how can France hope to build friendship and trust with its former African colonies? Although extant literature (Curtis, 2007; DeBlock, 2019; Hicks, 2020; Maaba, 2009; Maples, 2020 Munjeri, 2009; Nevadomsky, 2018; Paquette, 2020; Roberts, 2019; Savoy, 2021; Shyllon, 2014; Shyllon, 2015; and Thompson, 2020) provides insight into how France could restitute African cultural property, this literature has not explicitly considered the role that anti-Black racism plays in France’s resistance to the repatriation and restitution of African cultural property. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate the research question: in what ways might Critical Race Theory (CRT) inform policies and practices on the restitution of African cultural property from France back to African nations?
Presenters
Antonio C. CuylerProfessor of Music in Entrepreneurship and Leadership, University of Michigan, Michigan, United States Khamal Patterson
Cultural Property Law Analysis, Legal Affairs, ARTIVE, Connecticut, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
African Cultural Property, Critical Race Theory, France, Restitution
