“Museum works to repatriate artifacts looted from West Africa” — PBS NewsHour, 2022, 8:10 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B59Bjqi0Yns

Submitted by Camryn Kubicek, Anthropology major at The University of Texas at San Antonio

This video from PBS NewsHour speaks to the issue of repatriation by American museums and the context of colonization. It focuses on the history of the adverse relationship between collecting museum materials from colonized lands and the people affected, past and present. Centering on the Benin Bronzes at the Penn Museum, the video includes a discussion from lead curator Tukufu Zuberi and the director, Christopher Woods, on how the process of repatriation should be handled. Rather than ignore the histories of museum artifacts, Woods remarks that repatriation is likely to become a large part of what museums do moving forward.

This video is an excellent teaching tool as it provides a clear defense of why conversations surrounding colonization must still be given attention. One point stressed in the video is that museums must consider their mission and the institution’s relationships with colonized societies. By seeking to explain the responsibility of American museums to recognize the legacy of conquest and colonization, this video reflects a more enlightened approach taken by curators to honor these communities.

A related video, also from PBS NewsHour, University of California, Berkeley repatriates cultural artifacts to indigenous tribe, speaks to the relationship between American institutions of culture and Native Americans. Other resources include the Field Museum’s What is repatriation?, and the Museums Association’s A New Approach to Repatriation, which addresses what repatriation is, as well as how repatriation efforts can be used to create new pathways for artifact curation.