Celebration of Scholars
#12: Cultural Repatriation: The Concept of Ownership
Name:
Brennan Ott
Major: History
Hometown: Roscoe, IL
Faculty Sponsor: Stephanie Mitchell
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Senior thesis
Abstract
Ownership is the fundamental tension surrounding the repatriation of cultural heritage, though the context of ownership has shifted throughout the history of cultural heritage. Cultural heritage is innately complex, with various international and national laws regarding cultural heritage. To add a further layer of complexity and confusion, each case of repatriation of cultural heritage has its issues and surrounding circumstances that make it challenging to create enforceable and universally applicable guidelines on how to repatriate cultural heritage. The first section is an overview of cultural heritage and repatriation efforts. Besides a basic overview, this section will also review the historical context of the shift away from the retentionist attitudes of institutions like the British museum and towards the idea of repatriating cultural heritage. Furthermore, the second section of the paper will discuss the legal framework of the repatriation of cultural heritage by looking at the international agreements and laws meant to protect and regulate the movement and the acquisition of cultural heritage. The third section of this paper will provide case studies or examples of the repatriation of cultural heritage. In the same vein as the analysis of the case studies, the paper's final section will detail a few possible solutions to make repatriation a less divisive issue internationally and answers to make repatriation overall easier.Submit date: March 28, 2023, 8:37 p.m.