English translation by Sarah Frisbie, Amanda M. Maples, and John Warne Monroe
The issue of restitution of African cultural property proves complex if we take into account the challenges that this poses for both repository countries and countries of origin. In the controversy provoked by the publication of the report by Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy,1 in which we see certain Western museums claiming the title of universal museums with the vocation of “better” presenting cultural heritage and the history of [African] peoples, the viewpoint of Africa, which was never consulted, might be surprising. The example of loans of objects, which sometimes include African works, between Western museums and Western traveling exhibitions without any obligation facing the owner states is symptomatic of the unenviable fate of African cultural heritage. The international traveling exhibition Masters of Sculpture in Côte d'Ivoire, which traveled to four European countries (Switzerland, Germany, the...