Review: Returning Southeast Asia’s Past: Objects, Museums, and Restitution, edited by Louise Tythacott and Panggah Ardiyansyah

Abstract

Book Review| May 01 2023 Review: Returning Southeast Asia’s Past: Objects, Museums, and Restitution, edited by Louise Tythacott and Panggah Ardiyansyah Louise Tythacott and Panggah Ardiyansyah, eds. Returning Southeast Asia’s Past: Objects, Museums, and Restitution.Singapore: National University of Singapore Press, 2021. 304 pages. $42.00 (hardcover). Susan Rodgers Susan Rodgers College of the Holy Cross Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Journal of Vietnamese Studies (2023) 18 (1-2): 226–228. https://doi.org/10.1525/vs.2023.18.1-2.226 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Susan Rodgers; Review: Returning Southeast Asia’s Past: Objects, Museums, and Restitution, edited by Louise Tythacott and Panggah Ardiyansyah. Journal of Vietnamese Studies 1 May 2023; 18 (1-2): 226–228. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/vs.2023.18.1-2.226 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentJournal of Vietnamese Studies Search Who “owns” the cultural treasures of Southeast Asia? Who should have direct, “in-person” access to them for study and aesthetic enjoyment and inspiration? How should museums—any museums, in any location—curate exhibitions involving such treasures? The minutely detailed case studies in the excellent edited collection Returning Southeast Asia’s Past: Objects, Museums, and Restitution document how power has worked in the “discovery” and subsequent accumulation and museum display of antiquities from Southeast Asia in the West. The contributors explore how economic trade in heritage objects intersects with political relations among nations and the agendas of elite museums worldwide. The chapters also consider how, following United Nations agreements that important heritage art should ideally be returned to the nations now occupying the areas that first produced the treasured objects, repatriation has actually worked in practice. Additionally, the authors trace how historical scholarship, anthropology and archaeology, and curatorial practice clarify these legally and ethically... You do not currently have access to this content.