Introduction to restitution and repatriation work in Scotland
Introduction
In a museum context, restitution is about the return of ancestral remains or cultural objects held in museum collections, to communities or individuals. Repatriation (or rematriation) involves the return of ancestral remains or cultural objects to nations or states.
It is important that museums engage in this work. Particularly where collections contain items acquired through looting or other unethical means. There have been calls for return from communities and nations ever since their ancestors and cultural objects were taken. Over the past three decades, there have been a number of returns from collections in Scottish museums. A list of these requests and returns is available to search in the Repatriation and Restitution section of our advice guides.
Recommendations made to the Scottish Government
In 2022, the Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums (ESSM) Steering Group made recommendations to the Scottish Government for how Scotland’s involvement in empire, colonialism, and historic slavery could be addressed using museum collections and museum spaces.
One of these recommendations was that the Scottish Government should demonstrate their support for restitution and repatriation of looted or unethically acquired items in Scottish collections.
The Empire, Slavery, & Scotland’s Museums project found that:
“Consultation with those who experience racism within Scotland strongly indicates that restitution and repatriation of unethically acquired museum collections is an essential step in addressing the legacies of empire colonialism and historic slavery. Public consultation shows majority support for the return of looted and stolen objects. The museum sector workforce supports the return of looted or stolen objects.”
The Steering Group proposed that national guidance for museums, galleries and heritage organisations on repatriation and restitution should be developed. To read about plans for developing this guidance, please visit this blog post: New Repatriation Working Group Seeks Sector Views
Guidance and return stories will be added to these pages over time. A collection of resources and sources of guidance from other organisations are listed below.
Resources
The Collections Trust restitution and repatriation section includes examples of procedures some museums use and resources for researching and processing a claim.
CARICOM Ten Point Plan For Reparatory Justice from the CARICOM Reparations Commission outlines a path to reconciliation, truth, and justice for victims and their descendants.
The Open Restitution Project is an Africa-led project seeking to open up access to information on restitution of African material culture and human ancestors, to empower all stakeholders involved to make knowledge-based decisions.
The ICOM International Committee for University Museums and Collections has published Guidance for Restitution and Return of items from university museums and collections.
The Pitt Rivers Museum current research on African restitution involves three programmes each focused on supporting efforts to return African cultural heritage currently held in European museums and collections to the continent of Africa, on a case-by-case basis.
