Disrupting & Reorienting Restitution embraces a multidisciplinary approach to highlighting voices from Africa and the Diaspora in the restitution debate.

Why Disrupting & Reorienting Restitution? 

Restitution is highly discussed, complex and contentious. We aim to disrupt and reorient the larger restitution conversation by centring the voices, knowledge and expertise of those from the African continent and the Diaspora. 

So far…

• Discussions on the restitution of African materials are led by the Global North given the inequity in the distribution of research and funding. 

• Restitution is focused on museum “objects” as defined by colonial epistemologies. 

• Source communities are largely absent from discussions and decision-making processes of how and why to return material culture. 

• Discussions often remain highly academic and therefore inaccessible to a wider audience. 

Therefore…

• We aim to create safe spaces where people from diverse backgrounds and fields of study can convene to exchange knowledge, ideas, tools and approaches to restitution. 

• We incorporate a multidisciplinary approach that highlights the perspectives of artists, Indigenous source community members and knowledge keepers from Africa and the Diaspora.