British Museum Lends Ghana Looted Gold Artifacts—Here’s Why It Won’t Fully Return Them
ForbesJAN 30 2024
UK to Loan Back the Asante's 'Crown Jewels'
Image copyright: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images New via Getty Images
The Spin
Narrative A
Any deal between Asante royalty and the UK will have inevitably required the Ghanaian community to accept the legality of the British Museum and V&A's possession of its treasures. With Greece, Nigeria, and Ethiopia amongst those vocally demanding the repatriation of items of cultural significance, there is certainly hope that this agreement may provide a foundation for further deals allowing artifacts to temporarily return to their original homes.
Narrative B
Museums that often cry theft as a consequence of mismanagement and poor security are the very same institutions that hypocritically refuse to return the product of the UK's colonial past back to its rightful owners. Westminster must change the 1963 British Museum Act — the legislation that prohibits the permanent return of objects that the UK should, in reality, be embarrassed to possess. Items looted and stolen as a consequence of a history of conquest and oppression should no longer be arrogantly paraded within British territory.