Exhibiting Absence: The Anticolonial Spaces Left by Repatriation

There is little research on the long-term impact of repatriation (Morton, 2017), particularly how it is interpreted for the public and the sustainability of relationships created. The focus of current debate on the Benin Bronzes overshadows a profusion of material culture repatriations from UK museums to Indigenous communities over the past 30 years. This important history has not been studied before and holds the potential to revolutionise UK practice and policy.

My PhD will create a more nuanced understanding of the legacy of repatriation; breaking down the 'loss' versus 'gain' dichotomy that exists in the field. Arguments that repatriation is detrimental to museums and the representation of the past (Cuno, 2009; Jenkins, 2018), have been critically countered by those who have demonstrated the benefits of initiating new relationships, collecting strategies, and exhibitions (Peers, 2013; Onciul, 2015; Brown, 2017). Utilising a qualitative case study approach of Indigenous materials returned to communities in North America, this PhD will address the gap in current literature concerning the impact of repatriation on UK museums by analysing the nature of repatriation relationships and the influence this has on decolonising practice. This is urgent, critical work that will support current rethinking, innovation of practice, and inform long-term planning.

Utilising a decolonial methodology, this project centres Indigeneity within its theoretical framework - addressing the conflict between Western ownership and Indigenous understandings of artefacts (Matthews, 2017). This project will explore the term anti-colonial which has been part of an accelerating discourse within the sector over the past year, and been explored through events such as 'From Decolonial to Anti-Colonial: What's Next for Museum Interpretation?' (National Portrait Gallery, 2020) and the 'What Do We Mean by Decolonise?' session at 2020's Museums Association conference. My research will situate these discussions within the wider literature to explore the significance of the development of language in this field.

Crucially my research will inform work to decolonise museums and emphasise the urgent need for proactivity and 'clear formal [repatriation] processes' in the UK (Hicks, 2020). Utilising the approach of anticolonial social science, I will challenge the very concept of a museum - originally a tool of empire built on collections - to explore how repatriation can promote anti-colonialism by dismantling and transforming these institutions' ethos and practice (Andrews, 2020). Decentring the object will enable a move beyond the colonial 'gaze' and centre the anti-racist, anti-colonial stance in the post-museum (Hooper-Greenhill, 2000). This approach decolonises the research by moving away from the discipline of 'looking' - a 'particular cultural practice' which relies on 'the disconnection of objects from the contexts in which they were made and used' and has traditionally dictated Euro-American curation (Bolton, 2003). As Hicks (2020) states, 'anthropological museums are complicit in making this colonial violence endure, through their continued display of the objects'. This research will advance the decolonisation literature by re-examining the role of objects and arguing museums can be anti-colonial and create greater meaning in the theoretical spaces left by repatriated objects - enabling visitors to learn about ongoing issues Indigenous communities face.