The Restitution of African Cultural Heritage. Toward a New Relational Ethics (in French: Rapport sur la restitution du patrimoine culturel africain. Vers une nouvelle éthique relationnelle) is a report written by Senegalese academic and writer Felwine Sarr and French art historian Bénédicte Savoy, first published online in November 2018 in a French original version and an authorised English translation.
Commissioned by the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, the aim of the report was to assess the history and present state of publicly owned French collections of African artworks originating from illicit or otherwise disputed acquisitions, as well as claims and a plan for subsequent steps for eventual restitutions. More specifically, the report also presents recommendations for the preparation of restitutions, such as international cultural cooperation, provenance research, legal frameworks, and ends with a list of the cultural objects involved, as well as ways to present them in the near future in African museums.
The commission of this report marks the first time a French president announced the restitution of African artefacts, and it has since prompted numerous debates and plans for a decolonization of museums in a number of countries.
In 2020, their report and its public response earned Bénédicte Savoy and Felwine Sarr the third place in the annual ranking of the "most influential people in the international art world", established by ArtReview magazine; and Time magazine listed them among the "100 most Influential People of 2021".
Background The report followed a speech by Emmanuel Macron, president of France, on 28 November 2017 at Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in which he addressed the policy of France in sub-Saharan Africa. The French president commissioned two academics to assess the history and composition of state-owned collections in France, as well as claims and reasons and subsequent steps for eventual restitutions. His motivation for a fundamental reorientation of the cultural policy of France with regard to Africa was expressed in the following words: "I am from a generation of French people for whom the crimes of European colonization cannot be disputed and are part of our history."
For the first time, a French president and his government recognized a moral right of restitution of cultural heritage, items of which are, according to French law, considered to be the inalienable property of the French state. Macron's predecessors never supported the return of African artefacts and other cultural objects in France; for example, Jacques Chirac supported collections of African art and is named in the official title of the Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac.Chirac was one of the effective supporters of the Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac. Macron's declaration has therefore been regarded as historic, regardless of how much art will eventually be returned to African countries.
The report was presented to the public on 23 November 2018, and since then has triggered numerous reactions in the French and international discussion about its claims for restitution of African art from museums in Europe or America. Despite Macron's announcement of a timely restitution, the legal requirements for such restitutions pose considerable obstacles: in France, all public assets, including the contents of publicly owned collections, such as museums, libraries or other cultural institutions, are regarded as inalienable possessions.
The authors and their mission
The Senegalese social scientist, musician and economist Felwine Sarr became known for his essay Afrotopia, where he proposes postcolonial theories for a present and future understanding of African countries. He argues that the further development of African democracies should not be brought about by reproducing Western models; instead Africa should reinvent itself through a synthesis of traditional and contemporary forms of social organization. His lectures and academic research focus on postcolonial theory, economic policies, development, economy, econometrics, epistemology and the history of religious ideas. Formerly a professor of economics at the Gaston Berger University (Senegal), he joined Duke University in the United States in 2020.
The French art historian Bénédicte Savoy teaches art history at Technische Universität Berlin in Germany and is also a professor at the Collège de France in Paris. Savoy has published several works on topics such as world art on Western markets, on museums in international contexts or on the illicit acquisition of cultural heritage. Since publication of the report, she has also become known as a proponent for the restitution of African cultural heritage in German collections and actively participates in research and public discussions about this issue.
In his official letter of appointment, Macron instructed the two authors to engage in discussions and workshops with various stakeholders in Africa as well as in France, including research on the colonial history of African cultural heritage.Sarr and Savoy, 2018 Furthermore, Macron requested concrete proposals and a timetable with proposed actions for the return of cultural objects. Through his explicit statement, "Dialogue and participation must accompany all stages of this work","Le dialogue et la participation devront accompagner toutes les étappes de ces travaux". Sarr and Savoy, 2018, p.104 Macron not only indicated a specific approach, but also opened the door for public debate about his new cultural policy and the resulting report. Since then, this public debate has intensified both in Africa, Europe and the U.S.
The contents of the report
In this report, the authors discuss the reasons and suggest measures for restitutions of African cultural objects from French publicly owned collections to their countries or communities of origin. In accordance with Macron's commission, the scope of the report specifically relates to former French sub-Saharan colonies, and whose cultural heritage has been largely taken to France during and following colonial times.The report does not cover North African countries, whose cultures have been marked by indigenous populations such as the Berber ethnic groups and by Arab-Islamic influence.
The introductory chapter, entitled "A Long Duration of Losses" describes the history of African cultural heritage in the context of European colonisation.Sarr and Savoy, 2018 Central themes are the forceful appropriation of cultural objects as crime against the communities of origin. Also, the importance of collecting, studying and exhibiting African heritage, first as curios and later as ethnological objects, by European museums and scientists is presented as a central aspect of a "history of violence" and domination.Sarr and Savoy, 2018
Referring to similar intentions to those expressed in their own report, Sarr and Savoy recall that in 1978, Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow, who was then the director of UNESCO, pleaded in favour of a rebalancing of global cultural heritage between the northern and the southern hemispheres. They quote M'Bow's speech "A plea for the return of an irreplaceable cultural heritage to those who created it":
Furthermore, the report considers the advocacy of public opinion since the beginning of the 2010s to be one of the main motivations for a change of attitudes in Europe.Sarr and Savoy, 2018 Based on their assessment that approximately 90% of all cultural heritage from sub-Saharan Africa is in the possession of Western collections,Sarr and Savoy, 2018 the authors understand their report primarily as a call for the timely restitution of artefacts and for the establishment of a new relationship of Europe towards Africa on the basis of mutual recognition.Sarr and Savoy, 2018
After this brief, but focused history of African colonial art in Western collections and earlier claims for restitution, the three following chapters entitled "To Restitute", "Restitutions and Collections" and "Accompanying the Returns" discuss the central aspects of the tasks associated with such restitutions. Here, the authors suggest both criteria for restitution as well as a concrete timetable for the French and African authorities to follow.Sarr and Savoy, 2018 Finally, the appendices of the report describe the methods and steps followed by the authors, supported by corresponding documents, charts and figures on the collections in France as well as information on museums in Africa.Sarr and Savoy, 2018 Due to its extensive holdings of approximately 70,000 objects from Africa and its detailed archives on the provenance of the objects, the Musée du quai Branly in Paris occupies a special position in the report's list. It ends with photographs and detailed information on thirty outstanding objects in this museum, which are considered as priorities for future restitution.Sarr and Savoy, 2018
The report also identifies the following important measures for a comprehensive reorientation of cultural relations: only through respectful international cooperation, with access to research, archives and documentation for people in Africa or in the African diaspora can the wide gaps between Africa and the West relating to the preservation, study and wider appreciation of African culture be narrowed. These measures include joint research and training by the participating museums, the exchange of temporary exhibitions—also among African countries—as well as the material support for appropriate networks or infrastructures for the museums in Africa and the experts working for them.Following the report, France pledged to finance a loan for a museum for the future restitution of objects from the Royal Court of Abomey in Benin. To ensure that knowledge of African cultural heritage reaches younger generations, the authors also recommend effective educational initiatives.Sarr and Savoy, 2018
The historical and geopolitical context Although the Sarr/Savoy report and the accompanying debates refer to the restitution of cultural heritage from Africa, Macron's announcement on his first visit to Africa as president of France stands in the wider context of the history, present and future of French political relations with Africa. In view of the growing political emancipation of some African countries from France, as well as the influence of China in Africa, French foreign policy is interested to maintain and develop its privileged relationship with West African countries and the wider Francophone world. Finally, the discussions and ethical justification of restitutions are examples of a changing view of European colonialism in Africa. Due to each country's colonial past and the present public assessment of this past, this historical re-evaluation has taken different paths in France, Great Britain, Belgium or Germany.
Reactions and restitutions following the report
Since the report was published, its analysis and recommendations have provoked numerous critical, affirmative or negative comments, both in France and other European countries. Museums and government sources in Germany and the Netherlands have issued new guidelines on future restitutions, provenance research and international cooperation. Subsequent restitutions have been made to Namibia from Germany and to Indonesia from the Netherlands. In April 2021, the Ethnological Museum in Berlin and the University of Aberdeen in Scotland announced the return of Benin Bronzes by 2022.