Aktuelle Forschungsprojekte
2024-2025 | Financé par le Frankreich-Zentrum de l’Universität Freiburg
On assiste, ces dernières années, dans plusieurs pays européens, à un changement dans les pratiques officielles de la mémoire du passé colonial en Afrique. Ce changement, qui a lieu après une longue résistance des différents Etats concernés, prend de nombreuses formes et s’opère à travers différents acteurs. En France, l’ambitieuse promesse, cependant non-tenue, du président Macron en 2017 à Ouagadougou de rendre à l’Afrique ses objets volés pendant la période coloniale dans les 5 prochaines années a ouvert la porte à de nombreuses discussions. Et c’est cette question de la restitution du patrimoine culturel africain qui est sans nul doute l’un des challenges les plus importants de notre époque quant à la façon dont nos sociétés font face à leur passé colonial. Sur ce point, la France et l’Allemagne se distinguent de leurs voisins européens par une collaboration importante. D’une part, on peut noter le lancement récent d’un fonds franco-allemand pour la recherche de provenance, qui viendra, on peut l’espérer, contribuer activement aux politiques de restitution des deux pays. D’autre part, le couple franco-allemand se démarque par ses efforts au niveau européen, notamment lors des commémorations du centenaire de la première guerre mondiale entre 2014 et 2018. Il y a donc une longue tradition de coopération sur les questions mémorielles, active jusqu’à aujourd’hui. Toutefois, il est important de noter qu’au-delà du front commun parfois affiché - comme dans le cadre de la recherche de provenance - l’Allemagne et la France ont des politiques et des fonctionnements très différents sur cette thématique de la mémoire (par exemple, le fédéralisme allemand face au centralisme français), en particulier lorsqu'il s’agit du passé colonial. Ainsi, bien que les deux pays portent un nouveau paradigme mémoriel, incarné par la question de la restitution du patrimoine culturel africain, il existe de nombreuses tensions qu’il convient aujourd’hui d’explorer en profondeur. De plus, il ne faut pas négliger l’importance du contexte historique et géopolitique. En effet, la France et l’Allemagne ont pendant longtemps été en compétition pour l’extension de leurs territoires coloniaux, de façon directe comme indirecte. Encore aujourd’hui, malgré la volonté de présenter une coopération proche, une forme de compétition sur les questions mémorielles, et notamment leur utilisation à des fins diplomatiques, n’est pas à exclure.
Publication:
Présentation du projet pour le Frankreich Zentrum de l’Universität Freiburg
On assiste, ces dernières années, dans plusieurs pays européens, à un changement dans les pratiques officielles de la mémoire du passé colonial en Afrique. Ce changement, qui a lieu après une longue résistance des différents Etats concernés, prend de nombreuses formes et s’opère à travers différents acteurs. En France, l’ambitieuse promesse, cependant non-tenue, du président Macron en 2017 à Ouagadougou de rendre à l’Afrique ses objets volés pendant la période coloniale dans les 5 prochaines années a ouvert la porte à de nombreuses discussions. Et c’est cette question de la restitution du patrimoine culturel africain qui est sans nul doute l’un des challenges les plus importants de notre époque quant à la façon dont nos sociétés font face à leur passé colonial. Sur ce point, la France et l’Allemagne se distinguent de leurs voisins européens par une collaboration importante. D’une part, on peut noter le lancement récent d’un fonds franco-allemand pour la recherche de provenance, qui viendra, on peut l’espérer, contribuer activement aux politiques de restitution des deux pays. D’autre part, le couple franco-allemand se démarque par ses efforts au niveau européen, notamment lors des commémorations du centenaire de la première guerre mondiale entre 2014 et 2018. Il y a donc une longue tradition de coopération sur les questions mémorielles, active jusqu’à aujourd’hui. Toutefois, il est important de noter qu’au-delà du front commun parfois affiché - comme dans le cadre de la recherche de provenance - l’Allemagne et la France ont des politiques et des fonctionnements très différents sur cette thématique de la mémoire (par exemple, le fédéralisme allemand face au centralisme français), en particulier lorsqu'il s’agit du passé colonial. Ainsi, bien que les deux pays portent un nouveau paradigme mémoriel, incarné par la question de la restitution du patrimoine culturel africain, il existe de nombreuses tensions qu’il convient aujourd’hui d’explorer en profondeur. De plus, il ne faut pas négliger l’importance du contexte historique et géopolitique. En effet, la France et l’Allemagne ont pendant longtemps été en compétition pour l’extension de leurs territoires coloniaux, de façon directe comme indirecte. Encore aujourd’hui, malgré la volonté de présenter une coopération proche, une forme de compétition sur les questions mémorielles, et notamment leur utilisation à des fins diplomatiques, n’est pas à exclure.
Publication:
2024 | Funded by the Media Studies Grant 2024 of the FIAT/IFTA (Fédération International des Archives de Télévision/International Federation for Television Archives)
The restitution of African cultural heritage, stolen during the colonial period and currently kept in European institutions, is an on-going societal challenge at the heart of many discussions in political, cultural and academic circles. It is a tangled topic which is gaining traction in Europe after decades of pressure from African scholars and activists. One notable development has been its increasing presence in the media over the last few years, with numerous news reports, debates, talk-shows, documentaries, and coverage of key events. Thanks to media monitoring and a brief consultation of online collections by the applicant, it appears that certain narratives on the restitution of African cultural heritage are taking shape across several European countries. Among other aspects, these narratives give a prominent role to the French president, bring States as key actors, and shed a spotlight on well-known objects such as the Benin Bronzes, whose photographs are now commonly associated with the topic. By doing so, these narratives tend to simplify the issue in ways that affect both public discourses and public opinions regarding the restitution of African cultural heritage. Therefore this project explores European and African audiovisual archives to analyse narratives on the restitution of African cultural heritage, and identify various and potentially competing narratives, discover transnational exchanges, analyse the evolution of discourses across languages and the role played by images, and shed light on processes of inclusion and exclusion of specific actors and institutions. In terms of methods, the project draws from media history and narrative studies, in order to identify how public discourses have evolved across European countries and languages, with a welcome perspective from Ghana which will offer a counterpoint to unearth new media narratives.
Publication:
Richard Legay, ‘Entangled narratives of restitution between Europe & Africa in audiovisual archives’ (scientific report for the FIAT/IFTA Media Studies Grant), International Federation of Television Archives FIAT/IFTA (online), 2024 (URL)
The restitution of African cultural heritage, stolen during the colonial period and currently kept in European institutions, is an on-going societal challenge at the heart of many discussions in political, cultural and academic circles. It is a tangled topic which is gaining traction in Europe after decades of pressure from African scholars and activists. One notable development has been its increasing presence in the media over the last few years, with numerous news reports, debates, talk-shows, documentaries, and coverage of key events. Thanks to media monitoring and a brief consultation of online collections by the applicant, it appears that certain narratives on the restitution of African cultural heritage are taking shape across several European countries. Among other aspects, these narratives give a prominent role to the French president, bring States as key actors, and shed a spotlight on well-known objects such as the Benin Bronzes, whose photographs are now commonly associated with the topic. By doing so, these narratives tend to simplify the issue in ways that affect both public discourses and public opinions regarding the restitution of African cultural heritage. Therefore this project explores European and African audiovisual archives to analyse narratives on the restitution of African cultural heritage, and identify various and potentially competing narratives, discover transnational exchanges, analyse the evolution of discourses across languages and the role played by images, and shed light on processes of inclusion and exclusion of specific actors and institutions. In terms of methods, the project draws from media history and narrative studies, in order to identify how public discourses have evolved across European countries and languages, with a welcome perspective from Ghana which will offer a counterpoint to unearth new media narratives.
Publication:
2023 – 2024 | Funded by the De/Coloniality Now Initiative (University of Freiburg) through their ‘early-career researcher tandem’ scheme. With Zainab Musa Shallangwa (University of Maiduguri, Nigeria) & Rebecca Ohene-Asah (UniMAC, Ghana)
The Global Convening for the Restitution of African Heritage just ended a few days ago in Accra. It brought together scholars, artists, and members of the civil society, showing that the restitution of African cultural heritage is an on-going issue at the heart of many discussions in political, cultural and academic circles. It is a tangled topic which is gaining traction in Europe after decades of pressure from African scholars and activists. At first glance, it appears to be a great example of a decolonial practice which has the potential to address long-lasting inequalities, violent colonial pasts and extensive cultural extractivism perpetrated by European societies. However, the current state of the restitution issue leaves much to be desired, notably because only few items were actually returned. Even when counting temporary loans, transfers of ownership and official promises, the number stays rather low and clashes with the expectations notably set by the so-called Sarr/Savoy report. Moreover, current debates and research on the restitution of cultural heritage are heavily centred on material heritage and particularly on prominent artefacts seen as having a high cultural value, such as the Benin Bronzes. As such, the scope of the issue is drastically reduced and is conceived as the transferring of some objects and their ownership from one country to another. One way to fight this simplification is to deconstruct and to rethink our understanding of restitution by going beyond the objects and including its immaterial dimensions, too often neglected. They are understood as issues central to the question of restitution which are not the material artefacts and their places of display but rather issues of power dynamics, inequalities, intangible heritage and cultural loss, which find their roots in coloniality. Bringing forward these immaterial dimensions would support the project’s endeavour to rethink restitution as a truly decolonial process which addresses the aforementioned issues and the lasting impact of cultural extractivism. This project aims to further our understanding of the on-going processes of restitution of African cultural heritage by bringing into the discussion dynamics that go beyond the current focus on specific objects and material heritage. It is based on the idea that - in order to be a truly decolonial process - the issue of restitution has to address its immaterial dimensions. These dimensions include, among other things, power dynamics and inequalities, the cultural impact of the long absence and return of these objects, the lasting colonial dimensions of museums in Europe and in Africa, immaterial heritage such as early 20th century recordings of African societies, and the creation of narratives on the restitution issue which impacts current processes. By reframing the discussions and properly understanding its full reach, the restitution debate can be a truly decolonial process.
The Global Convening for the Restitution of African Heritage just ended a few days ago in Accra. It brought together scholars, artists, and members of the civil society, showing that the restitution of African cultural heritage is an on-going issue at the heart of many discussions in political, cultural and academic circles. It is a tangled topic which is gaining traction in Europe after decades of pressure from African scholars and activists. At first glance, it appears to be a great example of a decolonial practice which has the potential to address long-lasting inequalities, violent colonial pasts and extensive cultural extractivism perpetrated by European societies. However, the current state of the restitution issue leaves much to be desired, notably because only few items were actually returned. Even when counting temporary loans, transfers of ownership and official promises, the number stays rather low and clashes with the expectations notably set by the so-called Sarr/Savoy report. Moreover, current debates and research on the restitution of cultural heritage are heavily centred on material heritage and particularly on prominent artefacts seen as having a high cultural value, such as the Benin Bronzes. As such, the scope of the issue is drastically reduced and is conceived as the transferring of some objects and their ownership from one country to another. One way to fight this simplification is to deconstruct and to rethink our understanding of restitution by going beyond the objects and including its immaterial dimensions, too often neglected. They are understood as issues central to the question of restitution which are not the material artefacts and their places of display but rather issues of power dynamics, inequalities, intangible heritage and cultural loss, which find their roots in coloniality. Bringing forward these immaterial dimensions would support the project’s endeavour to rethink restitution as a truly decolonial process which addresses the aforementioned issues and the lasting impact of cultural extractivism. This project aims to further our understanding of the on-going processes of restitution of African cultural heritage by bringing into the discussion dynamics that go beyond the current focus on specific objects and material heritage. It is based on the idea that - in order to be a truly decolonial process - the issue of restitution has to address its immaterial dimensions. These dimensions include, among other things, power dynamics and inequalities, the cultural impact of the long absence and return of these objects, the lasting colonial dimensions of museums in Europe and in Africa, immaterial heritage such as early 20th century recordings of African societies, and the creation of narratives on the restitution issue which impacts current processes. By reframing the discussions and properly understanding its full reach, the restitution debate can be a truly decolonial process.