Section outline

  • Meeting Point:

    Morning and Afternoon Sessions: Will take place at the British Museum. At 10am, meet at the Benin Bronzes in Room 25, Masterpieces of African Art (take the Central Line from Mile End to Tottenham Court Road and walk 8 minutes to the museum). To find Room 25, go down the stairs in Room 24 (“Living and Dying: The Wellcome Trust Gallery”). Once in Room 25, follow the floorplans on the introductory signs towards the Brasscasting display on the west side of the room or ask for directions. You can also look at the floor plan here (the Benin Bronzes are marked with a yellow L on page 3): 

    https://www.britishmuseum.org/sites/default/files/2024-01/British-Museum-map-January-2024.pdf


    • Essential Reading (ALL ATTACHED BELOW): 

      • Museums Association, ‘Supporting Decolonisation in Museums’, 2021.
        • QUESTION: What does it mean to decolonise a museum? What approaches are used to do so? 
      • Two links from The British Museum website about the Parthenon Sculptures and the Benin Bronzes.
        • DEFINE: Parthenon Sculptures
        • DEFINE: Benin Bronzes
      • Watch the Open University's video about the Benin Bronzes: https://youtu.be/YJIkhMi_6PU?si=NhzNC2mzaKnaJNx3
      • The Victoria & Albert Museum, ‘Gallery Text at the V&A: A Ten Point Guide’, 2013.
        • QUESTION: What qualities are shared by the most effective museum wall texts?


      Further Reading: 

      • Tim Barringer and Tom Flynn, Colonialism and the Object: Empire, Material Culture and the Museum (London:Routledge, 1998).
      • Tony Bennett, Pasts Beyond Memory: Evolution, Museums, Colonialism (London: Routledge, 2004).
      • Katy Bunning, Negotiating Race and Rights in the Museum (London: Routledge, 2020).
      • Annie E. Coombes and Ruth Phillips, eds., Museum Transformations: Decolonization and Democratization (Oxford: Wiley, 2020).
      • James Cuno, Who Owns Antiquity? Museums and the Battle over our Ancient Heritage (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008).
      • Laurence Gourievidis, Museums and Migration: History, Memory and Politics (London: Routledge, 2014). 
      • Dan Hicks, The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution (London: Pluto Press, 2020).
      • Gaby Hinsliff, ‘Cream Teas at Dawn: Inside the War for the National Trust’, The Guardian, 16 October 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/16/cream-teas-at-dawn-inside-the-war-for-the-national-trust.
      • Shino Konishi, Maria Nugent, and Tiffany Shellam, eds., Indigenous Intermediaries: New Perspectives on Exploration Archives (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2015).
      • Tiffany Jenkins, Contesting Human Remains in Museum Collections (London: Routledge, 2010).
      • Sharon Macdonald, Difficult Heritage: Negotiating the Nazi Past in Nuremberg and Beyond. (London: Routledge, 2008).
      • Karl E. Meyer, ‘Who (Really) Owns the Past?’ World Policy Journal 23, no. 1 (Spring 2006).
      • Alice Proctor, The Whole Picture: The Colonial Story of the Art in Our Museums and Why We Need to Talk About It, (London: Cassell, 2020).


    • Museums Association - Supporting Decolonisation in Museums File
      2.8 MB
    • The British Museum - The Parthenon Sculptures URL
    • The British Museum - Benin Bronzes URL
    • Open University video: Art, Loot and Empire: The Benin Bronzes URL
    • Gallery Text at the V&A: A Ten Point Guide URL
    • Video of George the Poet performing “The Benin Bronze” URL