Benin Bronzen im Kaiserreich - oder warum koloniale Objekte so viel Ärger machen

In this paper, I pursue the problems and discussions raised by colonial objects such as the Benin Bronzes, which had been stolen by British troops in 1897 from the Westafrican kingdom Benin and are exhibited now in European and American museums. I argue that there are two openly discussed problems, which are due to an overwhelming “colonial aphasia” on the one hand and to severe legal and financial conflicts on the other hand, and a third not openly addressed issue related to theses objects. This third aspect is silenced, even though it neither refers to a violent colonial past, nor to financial claims. Instead it is related to a rich shared Afro-European history, full of fascinating stories about academic disciplins and the making of modernity, which knowingly are not known at least in cultural heritage institutions such as European museums

Art · Colonialism · Economic history · Ethnology · Humanities · Modernity · Political science · Sociology · European history and politics · German Colonialism and Identity Studies · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law