Download This PaperThe Politicizing of Cultural Heritage
Amineddoleh, Leila. The Politicizing of Cultural Heritage. N.C. J. Int'l L., Vol. XLV, Spring 2020.
60 Pages Posted: 17 May 2020
Date Written: April 1, 2020
Abstract
In 2018, the New York Supreme Court ordered the return of a bas-relief that was stolen in the 1930s from Persepolis, in Iran. I was proud of my role in the repatriation of the artifact. But almost immediately, negative responses appeared on social media by critics questioning whether it was appropriate to restitute property to Iran, a country that they assert is unable to protect its heritage against destruction and that sponsors terrorism. These arguments against restitution were unpersuasive, as they were respectively inaccurate and irrelevant. Admittedly, the legal dispute surrounding ownership of the artifact was complex, focused on an object that was stolen multiple times over the past eight decades. Tellingly though, no one asserted that the relief was not stolen from a culturally significant site of extreme historical importance.
The controversy surrounding the repatriation highlights the politicizing of culture, the complicated relationship people and nations have with cultural heritage, the exploitation of ownership, and the non-commercial value of shared heritage. Cultural heritage inhabits a space between proprietary and non-proprietary interests leading to the complex treatment of these physical objects as
diplomatic and political currencies.
This paper examines laws regulating the ownership of cultural heritage, a number of legal controversies over cultural objects, and the politicizing of this unique class of property.
Keywords: cultural heritage, art law, heritage law, cultural heritage law, Persepolis, Iran, repatriation, restitution, antiquities, looting, plunder, art theft, antiquities looting, archaeology,
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