Beyond to Return Or Not To Return – The Benin Bronzes as Game Changer?

25 Pages Posted: 17 Oct 2022

See all articles by Carsten Stahn

Carsten Stahn

Leiden University - Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies

Date Written: September 29, 2022

Abstract

‘These works notably stand among the highest heights of European casting’. This is what Felix von Luschan, the curator of the ethnographic museum in Berlin, wrote in 1919 in his book on the Benin objects. Their looting in 1897 foreshadowed a scramble for cultural colonial objects in the heydays of colonial collecting. Today, they stand at the forefront of discussions on return, including new forms of consent, ownership or re-appropriation. They have triggered a novel race for return. This contribution traces some of the violence and colonial stereotypes underpinning their taking, different perceptions of the objects and contemporary ethical and legal frames for return. It argues that the contemporary debate over Benin bronzes reflects certain changes in the attitude towards return, which are grounded in the interplay between justice, ethics and human rights. It challenges the argument that takings were acceptable according to the standards of the time. It cautions at the same time that the current movement towards return should not turn into a cosmetic ritual of self-purification, which detracts from necessary reforms at the macro level.

Keywords: Benin Bronzes, Colonial violence, Object biographies, Restitution, Return, Museum ethics, Intertemporal law, Unjust Enrichment, Right of Access to Culture, Relational Cultural Justice

JEL Classification: K33, N40, K42

Suggested Citation

Stahn, Carsten, Beyond to Return Or Not To Return – The Benin Bronzes as Game Changer? (September 29, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4233448 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4233448

Carsten Stahn (Contact Author)

Leiden University - Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies ( email )

Leiden University Law Faculty
P.O. Box 9520
Leiden, 2300 RA
Netherlands

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