Bénédicte Savoy Reflects on Global Impact of 2018 Restitution Report and Recent Legal Milestones
In 2018, Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, tasked Bénédicte Savoy and Felwine Sarr with investigating the return of cultural artifacts acquired during colonization. Their report, released in November 2018, indicated that roughly 90 percent of the cultural heritage from sub-Saharan Africa resides in Western institutions, calling for the return of these items and a rethinking of Europe-Africa relations. In October, the French Assemblée Nationale unanimously approved the return of artifacts to Senegal and Benin. Savoy pointed out that military museums tend to handle restitution more readily than art museums. In the UK, Hartwig Fischer of the British Museum and Dan Hicks of Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum are engaged in similar efforts. Savoy and Hicks initiated 'The Restitution of Knowledge' project, which aims to enhance transparency regarding provenance and link restitution to wider justice initiatives.
Key facts
- Bénédicte Savoy and Felwine Sarr authored a 2018 restitution report for French president Emmanuel Macron
- The report found approximately 90% of sub-Saharan Africa's cultural heritage is in Western collections
- In October, the French Assemblée Nationale voted to return artifacts to Senegal and Benin without opposition
- The report has significantly influenced German-speaking countries, the Netherlands, and African nations
- Military museums in France have returned objects more readily than art museums like the Musée du Quai Branly
- Generational and gender shifts are evident in institutions, with female directors in Germany actively engaging the issue
- Savoy compares the report's impact to opening a shaken can, releasing long-suppressed debate pressure
- Younger generations connect restitution to ethical consumption, climate justice, and antiracist movements
Entities
Artists
- Bénédicte Savoy
- Felwine Sarr
- Emmanuel Macron
- Souleymane Bachir Diagne
- Nanette Snoep
- Barbara Plankensteiner
- Hartwig Fischer
- Hans Sloane
- Dan Hicks
- Stéphane Martin
- David Adjaye
- Achille Mbembe
Institutions
- Technische Universität Berlin
- Collège de France
- ArtReview
- Assemblée Nationale
- Musée du Quai Branly
- Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museums
- Museum am Rothenbaum
- British Museum
- Columbia University
- Pitt Rivers Museum
- Army Museum
- UNESCO
- The Times
- New York Times
- French government
- Musée du quai Branly
- parliament
- German ethnological museums
Locations
- Berlin
- Germany
- Paris
- France
- Dakar
- Senegal
- Republic of Benin
- Switzerland
- Austria
- Netherlands
- New York
- United States
- Cologne
- Hamburg
- United Kingdom
- Oxford
- Benin City
- Madagascar
- Myanmar
- Benin
- Africa
- Kingdom of Dahomey
- Abomey
- Nigeria