«Putting it all back where it belongs»: Repatriation of Cultural Objects in the Relations between the UK and Latin American and Caribbean States

The relations of the UK with the majority of Latin American and Caribbean states are not marked by traumatic narratives directly related to colonial dependence, but in recent years the problem of repatriation of cultural objects has become more acute: indigenous communities and civil activists are putting pressure on the British government and museums to return cultural property to the countries of origin. The factor that mitigates the confrontational nature of the problem is the proactive policy of British museums aimed at implementing joint projects with indigenous communities of Latin American and Caribbean states. Nevertheless, many of them are aimed at promoting Western narratives and approaches to the «decolonization of art». British museums also make a major contribution to the dissemination of information about the history and culture of Latin American peoples, both to tourists from around the world and to South American diasporas in the UK. At the same time, as a multipolar international order is being formed, the impact of the problem of repatriation of cultural objects on the UK’s relations with Latin American and Caribbean states will increase: the lack of an effective international legal framework to resolve these contradictions will become more and more acute. A potential method of reducing the resulting tension in the bilateral relations between London and Latin American and Caribbean states may be the transfer of objects on long-term lease or voluntary withdrawal of the British side from the possession of artifacts — in case appropriate changes in the domestic legislation of Great Britain are made.

1. Astahov E.M. (2015) Kuda idet Latinskaya Amerika? [Where is Latin America Going?], Iberoamerican Papers, no. 2, pp. 6–9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46272/2409-3416-2015-2-6-9 (In Russian)

2. Astahov E.M. (2017) Ibero-amerika i «russkij mir» pered vyzovami global’noj civilizacii [Ibero-America and the “Russian world” facing the challenges of global civilization], Latinskaya Amerika, no. 7, pp. 26–34. (In Russian)

3. Godovanyuk K.A. (2018) Latinoamerikanskoe napravlenie vneshneekonomicheskoj politiki Velikobritanii v usloviyah Brekzita [Latin America in Foreign Economic Policy of the UK amid Brexit], «Global’nyj Yug» v policentrichnom miroporyadke (Mirovoe razvitie. Vypusk 19) [Global South in the Multipolar World Order (Global Development, Vol. 19)], Moscow, IMEMO RAN, pp. 186–196. DOI: 10.20542/978-5-9535-0547-5 (In Russian)

4. Grabar Yа.A. (2014) «Ekonomizaciya» vneshnej politiki [Economization of Foreign Policy] in Al.A. Gromyko (ed.) Dilemmy Britanii: rossijskij vzglyad [Dilemmas of Britain: A Russian Perspective], Moscow, Ves’ Mir, pp. 386–396. (In Russian)

5. Korotkova O.A. (2021) Koncepciya dekolonizacii muzeya: problemy i vozmozhnosti [The Concept of Museum Decolonization: Problems and Opportunities], Kunstkamera, vol. 3, no. 13, pp. 28–38. DOI: 10.31250/2618-8619-2021-3(13)-28-38 (In Russian)

6. Larin E.A. (ed.) (2022) Velikobritaniya i Latinskaya Amerika (XVI–XXI vv.) [Great Britain and Latin America in 16th – 21st centuries], Moscow, Nauka, 631 p. (In Russian)

7. Pimenova K.V. (2019) Sakral’nye predmety i transformacii muzejnoj etiki: istoki, problemy, resheniya [Sacred Things and Transformations of Museum Ethics: History, Issues, Solutions], Novye issledovaniya Tuvy, no. 2, pp. 115–127. https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2019.2.10 (In Russian)

8. Chebanenko S.B. (2020) Problema vozvrashcheniya i restitucii predmetov afrikanskogo iskusstva, vyvezennyh iz Benina v rezul’tate britanskoj voennoj ekspedicii 1897 g.: praktika i pravovye aspekty [The Problem of Return and Restitution of African Art Objects Exported from Benin as a Result of the British Military Expedition of 1897: Practice and Legal Aspects], Voprosy muzeologii, no. 11(2), pp. 319–335. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu27.2020.214 (In Russian)

9. Alexander J. (2004) Toward a Theory of Cultural Trauma in J. Alexander, R. Eyerman, B. Giesen, N. Smelser, P. Stompka (eds.) Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity, Berkeley, University of California Press, pp. 1–31.

10. Anderson B. (1991) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London, Verso, 256 p.

11. Appiah K.A. (2006) Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers, New York, W.W. Norton, 256 p.

12. Chancellor G., DiMauro A., Ingle R., King G. (1988) Charles Darwin’s Beagle collections in the Oxford University Museum, Archives of Natural History, vol. 15, pp. 197–231.

13. Coote J. (2015) Cook-Voyage Collections of ‘Artificial Curiosities’ in Britain and Ireland, 1771–2015 (MEG Occasional Paper, No. 5), Oxford, Museum Ethnographers Group, 300 p.

14. Fagan D. (2007) Сritical Companion to Robert Frost: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, New York, Infobase Publishing, 249 p.

15. Karakatsani E. (2023) Greece political briefing: Greece-UK diplomatic row over the Parthenon Sculptures and the shadow of Brexit, Weekly Briefing, vol. 67, no. 1 (GR), China–CEE Institute, 11 p.

16. Keohane R., Nye J.S. (2011) Power and Interdependence (4th Edition), New York, Longman, 368 p.

17. Losson P. (2019) Claiming the Remains of the Past: The Return of Cultural Heritage Objects to Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, New York, City University of New York, 350 p.

18. Lundén S. (2016) Displaying loot. The Benin objects and the British Museum. Göteborg, Göteborgs University, 576 p.

19. Pitts M., Miles J., Pagi H., Earl G. (2014) Hoa Hakananai’a: A New Study of an Easter Island Statue in the British Museum, The Antiquaries Journal, vol. 94, pp. 291–321. DOI: 10.1017/S0003581514000201

20. Plankensteiner B. (2016) The Benin Treasures: Difficult Legacy and Contested Heritage in B. Hauser-Schäublin, L.V. Prott (eds.) Cultural Property and Contested Ownership: The Trafficking of Artefacts and the Quest for Restitution, London, Routledge, pp. 133–156. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315642048

21. Román-Velázquez P., Retis J. (2020) Narratives of Migration, Relocation and Belonging: Latin Americans in London, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 219 p.

22. Porter A. (ed.) (1999) The Oxford History of the British Empire. Vol. III. The Nineteenth Century, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 774 р.

23. Van Beurden S. (2018) Culture, Artifacts, and Independent Africa: The Cultural Politics of Museums and Heritage in M.S. Shanguhyia, T. Falola (eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of African Colonial and Postcolonial History, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1193–1212.