Righting Historical Wrongs? Understanding repatriation, restitution and reparations - Dr Gareth Knapman

Thursday 10 October, 6pm

Manning Clark House

What is the repatriation of Ancestors and restitution of cultural heritage? Since the 1980s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have pioneered the return of their ancestors from museums. The recent return of the Gweagal spears highlights how objects are increasingly central to repatriation initiatives. What is repatriation and restitution and why unscramble the egg of historical dispossession? Dr Gareth Knapman talks about his work in supporting repatriation and restitution of ancestors and cultural heritage and how it builds peaceful relations in the modern world.

Dr Gareth Knapman is a Research Fellow in the Return Reconcile and Renew Repatriation network within the Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies at the Australian National University. Dr Knapman previously worked as a curator and repatriation officer at Museum Victoria’s Indigenous Cultures Department. He has written extensively on museum collections and collecting, and has made significant contributions to Australian history. He is a leading authority on nineteenth-century British colonialism in Southeast Asia. His book, Race and British Colonialism in Southeast Asia (2017), creates a new understanding of colonial Southeast Asia, and his forthcoming book addresses Sovereignty and Indigenous Property in the British colonial world. Picture: Benin bronze from Colonial Graphic Museum that is being returned to Nigeria.

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