The British Museum appears close to a decision on returning the Elgin marbles – here’s how it might navigate the legal challenges.
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A spear-thrower, a shell, a bowl, a vase, a bucket. Five very different items tell us much about the history of collecting, the role of Indigenous experts and the shadow of colonial violence.
Understanding the different types of visitors and how they navigate museums can help these institutions reopen safely.
The government must respect the arm’s-length principle which ensures institutions like the British Museum are independent from government control.
The power to select, name and decide the meaning of these items makes Europeans the authors of African history.
The indigenous Rapa Nui say the statue is one of their most spiritually important.
Colonial powers plundered the heritage of countries all over the world – restitution is long overdue.
What’s needed is a comprehensive international strategy to combat the illicit trade in antiquities.
For Ethiopia, there is no connection between the Maqdala war in 1868 and the stolen treasures at Maqdala
An ivory ban in the US had a series of unintended consequences.
The question of repatriating objects is clearly more complex than returning human remains. It needs more debate, and more creative interventions to move beyond the current impasse.
For centuries, fishing fleets from Sulawesi regularly visited Australia in search of trepang. Their visits were recorded orally and have been depicted in detailed artworks.
It hovers uneasily between being a fine-art exhibition showing the diversity and sheer visual and sociocultural potency of contemporary Australian visual art practice, and an older-style ethnographic survey.
Top contributors
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Senior Lecturer, Curtin University
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ARC Future Fellow, The University of Western Australia
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Honorary Senior Lecturer, Australian National University
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Associate Professor, School of Sociology; Geary Fellow, Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College Dublin
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Professor of International Politics, University of Sheffield
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Senior Curator of Australian and First Nations Art, National Gallery of Victoria, The University of Melbourne
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ARC Laureate Fellow, Monash University, Director of Global Encounters Program., Monash University
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Honorary Professor, Edith Cowan University
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Strathclyde Chancellor's Fellow, Law, University of Strathclyde
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Professor in Archaeology, University of Bristol
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Senior Lecturer in Charity Law, University of Liverpool
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Professor, Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies, Deakin University
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Curator & Section Head, Oceania, The British Museum
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Associate professor in History, Deakin University
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Senior Lecturer in Aegean Prehistory, University of Kent
