Article: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c07m7pl3njmo
New Yorker Article: https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/the-forgotten-movement-to-reclaim-africas-stolen-art
Twelve artifacts kept by a German family for over 100 years have been returned to Ethiopia. The German family collected the items in the 1920s when Franz Weiss and his wife were envoys to Ethiopia and they collected crowns, shields, and paintings which the Ethiopian authorities had requested be returned. Professor Ramon Wyss, son of Franz Weiss, stated his intention was to, “share their beauty with the public and preserve the culture and history connected to my father’s birth.” The family also stated that all of the artifacts were originally either gifted to or purchased by the family during their stays in Ethiopia. These new additions to the Institute of Ethiopian Studies will reportedly be open to the public for studying and research purposes and are a part of the broader movement by Ethiopia and other African countries to reclaim artifacts that have been ‘looted’ and ‘plundered’ from their territories.
According to a New Yorker Article, between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, more than 500,000 African artifacts are currently held in Europe. Through various museums and private collections, Europe has successfully plundered Africa of 90% of its historically vital artifacts, leading many more prominent museums like the British Museum of Natural History to feature entire sections just on the objects they possess from the continent. For the many African historians and museum owners, this is a punch in the face, and that is precisely the way it should feel for us, too. How would Americans react if Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves, the Wright Flyer, and Thomas Jefferson’s library were all taken and stored in a multitude of other countries?
Germany has already been quite open about accepting its history and now they have an opportunity to return many of the other African artifacts that still remain in the country. Such a cooperation would bolster relations between the countries of Africa and Germany, and we could potentially see a growth of diplomatic visits between European and African nations. Ethiopia is naturally inclined to continue asking for the return of more artifacts and when they are answered, could begin warming relations with many of these other European countries who would benefit from regaining allies in Africa.
The theory of neo-colonialism comes front-and-center in this article. That is to say, that by holding and showing off African artifacts and keeping them in Europe, these states continue the colonial oppression and fail to treat the African countries as equals to European ones. They are taking away pieces of African history, therefore hampering the legitimacy of these African leaders who appear relatively powerless to reclaim what is, or was, legally their nation’s property.
