Académie des Traces and C& Magazine Examine De/Colonial Traces in Museum Collections

A collaboration between Académie des Traces and Contemporary And (C&) magazine explores colonial legacies in museum collections through seven texts by emerging researchers and museum professionals from Africa and Europe. The series builds on the 2024 book "Traces du dé/colonial au musée" (Éditions Horizons d'Attente, Paris) and activities including online seminars and a spring school in Berlin. Contributions address restitution and return of cultural artifacts, with Aliénor Brittmann analyzing a saber's restitution between Senegal and France; Jan König and Elias Aguigah discussing Benin Bronzes restitution and German foreign policy; Salomé Soloum examining Benin's integration of 26 Dahomean objects returned from Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in 2021 into tourism and economic development; Adéwolé Faladé exploring implications of objects' absences and presences in French and Beninese museums; and Carly Degbelo researching archival photographs from a 1930 mission by père Aupiais, funded by Albert Kahn and accompanied by Frédéric Gadmer. Ariane Théveniaud critiques "open storage" displays for masking curatorial complexities, while Injonge Karangwa and Anguezomo Nzé Mboulou Mba Bikoro examine colonial collections' impact on African diaspora well-being. The dossier publishes throughout April 2025 alongside online seminars on mediation (April 3), climate (April 10), digitization (April 17), and mental health (April 24).