Benin

“There was a dim grandeur about it all, and also these seemed to a fate.

‘We, Europeans, who have received and transmitted and continue to transmit these objects, are on the side of the conquerors. To a certain extent, this is also a ‘heritage that weighs us down’. But there is no fatality.

Gold jewel of two crocodiles, Baule, Ivory Coast, now in Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France.

INTRODUCTION

We reproduce below an interview with Prince Edun Akenzua, younger brother of the Oba of Benin,published in the Nigerian Guardian.

In 2011 while conducting research on the Yoruba legacy in Cuba, I became interested in the return movement of Afro-Cubans and Afro-Brazilians who were released and had to return to their native homeland in Africa.

'The restitution of those cultural objects which our museums and collections, directly or indirectly, possess thanks to the colonial system and are now being demanded, must also not be postponed with cheap arguments and tricks.' Gert v.

‘There was a dim grandeur about it all, and also these seemed to a fate.