The traces of colonialism still shape our everyday lives and continue to structure how we think, work, live, and love, as well as which privileges we draw on – or are excluded from. Examining how these traces manifest in museum collections and more broadly, in colonial heritage, has been at the heart of the Académie des Traces.

The Académie des Traces is a living network providing a platform for sharing methods, knowledge, and perspectives on colonial heritage. It builds on the long-term collaboration of a network of scholars and museum professionals at the intersection of art history, philosophy, anthropology, heritage and museum studies, across the European and African continents.

In 2024, the members of the Académie des Traces developed a series of online seminars and a spring school based on the book “Traces du dé/colonial au musée” (“Traces of the De/Colonial in the Museum”, Éditions Horizons d’Attente, Paris, 2024). The use of a slash to relate the colonial with the de/colonial signifies for us a recurring paradox that lies at the heart of the discussion and practices related to engaging with collections formed during colonialism. As we write in the book:

“Research conducted with collections is constantly at risk of falling back – often imperceptibly, unexpectedly, and unintentionally – into the reproduction or reification of colonial thought systems, power asymmetries, essentialism, and racism that one is precisely trying to escape.“ (22-23, translated from the French)

This paradox is what the different contributions in this collaboration between C& and the Académie des Traces explore. The dossier is composed of seven texts written by the members of the Académie – emerging researchers, curators, and museum professionals – who took part in the spring school in Berlin in 2024.

Participants of the Académie des Traces in 2024.

Several contributions discuss and problematize processes of restitution and return of cultural artefacts between the European and African continents. How does restitution impact foreign policy and diplomacy, and in which regard do they reflect colonial continuities between the Global North and South? Two texts on reflect this question. Jurist Aliénor Brittmann recounts the construction and instrumentalization of History for contemporary relation-making as part of the restitution process of a sabre between Senegal and France. Art historian Jan König and cultural-social anthropologist Elias Aguiah take the much-mediatised restitution of the infamous Benin bronzes from various German museums to the Republic of Nigeria as a point of departure to discuss the entanglement of economic and cultural politics in German foreign policy.
Three contributions engage with different forms of return and restitution to the Republic of Benin. Art historian Salomé Soloum shows how the Beninese Republic embedded the restitution of 26 Dahomean artefacts from the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac to Benin in October 2021 into a larger development plan with tourism and economic goals. Part of this programme included an international touring exhibition of contemporary art from Benin, which comparative history scholar Adéwolé Faladé draws upon to discuss the implications of different forms and temporalities related to the absences and presences of these objects in both French and Beninese museums. Finally, catholic clergyman and museologist Carly Degbelo engages with the return of archival photographs to Benin from a photographic and cinematographic mission led in 1930 by Father Aupiais, made possible by the philanthropist Albert Kahn and accompanied by the photographer and filmmaker Frédéric Gadmer. He employs exploratory research methods to deepen the understanding of the photographic material by identifying living relatives or acquaintances of those depicted in the images.

Beyond questions of restitution, two contributions engage with de/colonial contradictions by discussing politics of display and health in relation to colonial collections. In her article, the conservator Ariane Théveniaud critiques “open storage” displays, which aim to offer transparency and access but based on her professional experience in museum storerooms, reveal little of actual museum practices. Instead, she shows how these displays legitimize Western conservation ideologies while concealing the complexities of object histories and curatorial decisions. Opening up the debate on historical collections through practices of contemporary art, cultural practitioner and health researcher Injonge Karangwa and artist Anguezomo Nzé Mboulou Mba Bikoro discuss the impact of these collections on African communities, exploring how artefacts and their histories influence the well-being of both African diasporas and those on the continent.

The dossier will be released in conjunction with the 2025 edition of the Académie des Traces, which explores how engaging with colonial heritage can help address key societal challenges today. Throughout April, the various contributions mentioned earlier will be published consecutively. Additionally, the Académie hosts a series of online seminars on the topics of mediation and participation (3 April), climate and sustainability (10 April), digitality and new media (17 April), and (mental) health (24 April).

All readers of C& are warmly invited to join – registration to all seminars is now open!

Margareta von Oswald, editor of the collaboration between C& x Académie des Traces

READ ALL ARTICLES HERE. 

The contributions of this dossier were accompanied and edited by Margareta von Oswald in collaboration with C& Magazine, and proofread by Manyakhalé “Taata” Diawara.

Margareta von Oswald is an anthropologist (PhD, EHESS/Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and works at the interface of academia, collections, and society. She is currently a research coordinator at inherit. heritage in transformation at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and an associate researcher at the Center Marc Bloch, Berlin. In her research and curatorial practice, she deals with negotiation processes around difficult heritage and the question of how museums can become truly democratic places. Margareta von Oswald acknowledges the support of the Centre for Advanced Study inherit. heritage in transformation funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with the funding reference 01UK2402.