A Propos Macron and the Restitution of African Arts: A German Case Study

Abstract

October 01 2020 A Propos Macron and the Restitution of African Arts: A German Case Study Barbara Thompson Barbara Thompson Barbara Thompson has workled as a consultant with the African ceramics collection of His Royal Highness Franz, Duke of Bavaria since receiving her PhD in African art history from the University of Iowa in 1999. She has taught an adjunct professor at the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa, served as curator of African, Native American, and Oceanic arts at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College and at the Cantor Art Center, Stanford University. She has also organized over forty exhibitions and published internationally on global arts, often focusing on the cross-over between historical and contemporary practices. Since returning to her birthplace in Hawaii in 2014, she works as an independent art historian, curator, and consultant. bthompson@africanartresearch.com Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Barbara Thompson Barbara Thompson has workled as a consultant with the African ceramics collection of His Royal Highness Franz, Duke of Bavaria since receiving her PhD in African art history from the University of Iowa in 1999. She has taught an adjunct professor at the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa, served as curator of African, Native American, and Oceanic arts at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College and at the Cantor Art Center, Stanford University. She has also organized over forty exhibitions and published internationally on global arts, often focusing on the cross-over between historical and contemporary practices. Since returning to her birthplace in Hawaii in 2014, she works as an independent art historian, curator, and consultant. bthompson@africanartresearch.com Online Issn: 1937-2108 Print Issn: 0001-9933 © 2020 by the Regents of the University of California.2020The Regents of the University of California African Arts (2020) 53 (4): 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00545 Cite Icon Cite Permissions Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Search Site Citation Barbara Thompson; A Propos Macron and the Restitution of African Arts: A German Case Study. African Arts 2020; 53 (4): 1–7. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00545 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentAll JournalsAfrican Arts Search Advanced Search When French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a speech in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on November 28, 2017, he announced his plans to temporarily or permanently return French state-owned African cultural possessions to their original source nations (Macron 2017). Museums with African art collections were sent into a tailspin as heated debates ignited across the world following the speech. Macron subsequently engaged the Senegalese economist and philosopher Felwine Sarr and art historian Bénédicte Savoy to write a formal report with restitution recommendations. Released in 2018, their report concluded that all cultural possessions in French museums acquired before 1960 without evidence of full consent from their original owners or guardians should be returned to Africa (Sarr and Savoy 2018),1 “essentially advocating the unconditional and comprehensive return of all such possessions”... © 2020 by the Regents of the University of California.2020The Regents of the University of California You do not currently have access to this content.