ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Yann LeGall

Yann LeGall is post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for Art Studies at TU Berlin in the DFG funded project "The Restitution of Knowledge", led in partnership with the University of Oxford and the Pitt-Rivers-Museum. He is also a member of the civil society initiatives Berlin Postkolonial and Postcolonial Potsdam.
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POSTS BY Yann LeGall

02 December 2022

Possessions, Spoils of War, Belongings

Addressing colonial injustices by claiming restitution of artefacts and other belongings before German courts is undeniably a legal challenge for all stakeholders. As a shield against (potential) legal claims, museums, state authorities and some legal scholars have argued that there is no legal obligation for restitution of such belongings. Based on the stipulation that “colonial law has to be applied, even if it is no longer compatible with today’s views on law and justice”, this line of argument assumes that the acquisition of the possessions of colonized people by Europeans and subsequent transactions were generally considered lawful in the nineteenth century. In this contribution, we question this assumption. Continue reading >>