Abstract
At the twenty-fifth triennial ICOM International General Conference, which took place in Kyoto, Japan, on 1 to 7 September 2019, decolonization and restitution were discussed during a whole afternoon under the heading “Decolonization and Restitution: Moving Towards a More Holistic Perspective and Relational Approach.” Two consecutive sessions with simultaneous translation in English, French, Spanish, and Japanese were attended by almost one thousand people in each session. Speakers for both sessions were representatives of their respective ICOM National Committees. ICOM’s Code of Ethics for Museums, adopted in 1986 at the fifteenth General Conference in Buenos Aires, is recognized worldwide and serves as a guideline in museum work, especially the sixth principle: “Museums work closely with both the communities from which their collections originate and those they serve.”
Highlights
The first session focused on decolonization.[2]
One of them said: “There are very particular issues which is, a colonized country with a dispossessed, Indigenous population, the culture of which is richly represented in its museums, but is, generally, very poorly represented amongst its visitors, or the museum staff.”[3]. Panelists felt that it was the Eurocentric model of the museum itself that should be questioned, being inappropriate in an age of engagement and of social entrepreneurship
What is the meaning of decolonization and how is it defined? On the one hand, decolonization (Rivet 2020) restores the Indigenous worldview, culture, and traditional ways of life, replacing Western interpretations of history with Indigenous perspectives
Summary
The first session focused on decolonization.[2]. It touched on how museums in their areas are addressing decolonization, where they see progress, and what challenges and barriers they face.
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