ACASA CCR Best Practices Document
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Open in new tab Our Mission:
The CCRBP works with Africa-based institutions, professionals, and community members and advises museums in the United States on ethical engagement with origin and descendant communities whose objects, artworks, and ancestors are currently represented in their collections.
Who we are:
The Art Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA) is a sponsored academic and professional organization of the African Studies Association, a global umbrella membership organization devoted to enhancing the exchange of information about Africa. ACASA members consist of scholars, teachers, students, artists, museum specialists, collectors, and all others interested in the arts and culture of Africa and the African Diaspora.
Initiated in 2021, the Collaboration, Collections, and Restitution Best Practices (CCRBP) for United States Museums Holding African Objects Working Group is an ad hoc committee of ACASA. It is composed of over seventy specialists (museum professionals, academics, independent researchers, government officials, and artists) from the United States, Africa, and Europe. Acting as a representative of ACASA, the CCRBP develops resources for museums in the United States with holdings of African arts, material culture, and ancestral remains.
Best Practices Goals:
Authored by members of the CCRBP between 2022 and 2024, this document recommends best practice guidelines for the ethical stewardship of museum collections originating from the African continent, including recommendations for the ethical return of objects to constituents on the African continent. It emphasizes collaboration and communication with Africa-based peers, descendant communities, and other knowledge-holding constituents in assessing and determining the futures of the collections.
Ratified by ACASA in 2024, this document recommends museums in the United States demonstrate an institutional commitment to 1) transparency regarding collection holdings and information about object histories, 2) working with interested parties on the African continent on collaborations, including returns, within this field-wide framework of accepted practice, 3) prioritizing research on collection holdings, and 4) disseminating information about African arts collections in accordance with ethical computing standards.
Background:
The inaugural Steering Committee for the Working Group on Collaboration, Collections, and Restitution Best Practices for United States Museums Holding African Objects (CCRBP) emerged from a roundtable discussion held as part of Museum Day at the 2021 Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA) Triennial Symposium, which was held virtually from June 16 through June 20, 2021. In Fall 2021, the group’s inaugural Steering Committee held four listening sessions for African and North American constituents to broaden the conversation. These meetings provided a virtual international forum for museum professionals to share the relevant work happening at their respective institutions as well as their concerns, experiences, and goals regarding restitution and its processes. At the same time, the inaugural Steering Committee asked the Board of ACASA to accept the CCRBP WG as an ad-hoc committee, a shift in status that was approved in January 2022. Individuals based in Africa, North America, and Europe have volunteered to be part of the CCRBP WG. A new Steering Committee of thirteen individuals from Africa and North America was assembled, and five subcommittees launched in April 2022. Three subcommittees submitted their reports in January 2023. Using these reports as a foundation, the steering committee submitted a first draft of the report to select CCRBP member readers in December of 2023 for review, and then to the full CCRBP membership for feedback in February 2024. After a final round of reviews by outside readers from a range of associated fields, the steering committee submitted the final draft of the Best Practices document to the ACASA board on July 3, 2024. The Best Practices were then ratified by a vote of the ACASA membership on August 7, 2024.
Collaboration, Collections, and Restitution Best Practices for United States Museums Holding African Objects Panel Presentation at the 19th ACASA Triennial Symposium on African Art Recording
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ACASA CCR Best Practices Document
For inquiries about the CCRBP, please contact: CCRBP@acasaonline.org
Inaugural steering committee:
Marla Berns
Kathleen Bickford Berzock
Ndubuisi Ezeluomba
Amanda Gilvin
Amanda Hellman
Christine Kreamer
Amanda Maples
Costa Petridis
Raymond Silverman
Nii O. Quarcoopome
2022-2025 Steering Committee:
Co-chairs:
Amanda Gilvin
Erica Jones
Members:
Sarah Clunis
Paul R. Davis
Martin Elouga
Ndubuisi Ezeluomba
Silvia Forni
Kathryn Gunsch
Amanda M. Maples
Courtnay Micots
Romuald Tchibozo
Outreach Chair:
Christa Clarke
CCRBP by the numbers:
Inaugural Steering Committee: 10 members
Fall 2021 listening sessions: 69 total participants
December 2021 workshop: 57 attendees
February 2022 survey of ACASA Members: 74 responses
Steering Committee: 11 members
5 best practices documents case studies
5 in-depth conversations with relevant organizations
Interlocutor Identification: 9 members
154 interlocutors in Africa
174 institutions in North America that steward African art
Comparative Models for Restitution and Repatriation: 12 members
16 case studies
10 models
Criteria and Parameters for Objects Subject to Potential Collaboration, Restitution, and Repatriation: 12 members
3 best practices case studies
4 CCRBP member museum presentations
18 restitution case studies
Resources Committee: 4 members
4 interviews with museum representatives about return processes
Outreach: 1 Chair
4 external reviewers of Best Practices document draft
Making United States African Art Collections Accessible and Visible: 16 members
15 case studies of digital resources
4 in-depth conversations with digital resource creators
3 listening sessions with 12 Africa-based interlocutors
1 listening session with 2 U.S.-based consulting curators
Survey sent to 144 Africa-based interlocutors, 7 responses
Subcommittees:
Criteria and Parameters for Objects Subject to Potential Collaboration, Restitution, and Repatriation
Members of this committee identified categories of African artworks that may be prioritized for provenance research, collaborative projects, and/or restitution, bearing in mind that this may be a tiered and ongoing process. Their driving question was: where should museums begin this work on their collections? Some categories considered included artworks collected in Africa during the colonial era, artworks collected in Africa after 1970, human remains, archaeological materials, sacred grave or shrine goods, and artworks documented as having been looted during conflicts. The committee envisioned that all categories recommended for restitution or repatriation would equally be applied to museum acquisition policies as groups of objects that require particular attention and should be discouraged as candidates for acquisition going forward.
Co-Chairs:
Yaëlle Biro
Karen E. Milbourne
Members:
Toyin E. Akinde
Laura de Becker
Ndubuisi Ezeluomba
Henone Girma
Erica P. Jones
Stephen Kasumba
Christine M. Kreamer
Elizabeth Gron Morton
Gemma Rodrigues
Jessica Stephenson
Margaret Tamulonis
Carol Thompson
Comparative Models for Restitution and Repatriation
Members assembled and analyzed other models for restitution and repatriation, including but not limited to NAGPRA, Nazi-era restitution guidelines, and current European processes for repatriations of African art. They proposed which aspects of these models could be adapted for a document of best practices for North American museums holding African art. Members also researched and documented case studies for the restitution and repatriation of African and other non-western arts from museums in the Americas and Europe and suggested how they could be instructive for other museums. Case studies ranged broadly across objects, collections, and forms of collaboration with community stakeholders.
Co-Chairs:
Mary Jo Arnoldi
Jennifer Bajorek
Members:
Dickson Adom
Sonia E. Barret
Abigail Celis
Annie E. Coombes
Paul Davis
Carlee S. Forbes
Silvia Forni
Catherine McKinley
Olushola Olajobi
Kenneth Ubani
Interlocutor Identification
Members compiled two lists. Interlocutors are understood as any entity with vested interest to include, for example, organizations, institutions, and recognized communal bodies. This list is not exhaustive. The first list identifies African and African Diasporic interlocutors who may be interested in a resource that consolidates online access to African art and cultural forms and/or African human remains in North America. The second list identifies North American museum collections of African art and cultural forms and/or African human remains and the museum staff appointed to oversee their care.
Interlocutor List for North America
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Interlocutor List for Africa
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Co-Chairs:
Nichole Bridges
Shannen Hill
Members:
Anne Compton
James Green
Wandile Kasibe
Dana Moffett
Palesa Motsumi
Allyson Purpura
Elaine Sullivan
Assisted By:
Yaëlle Biro
Navashni Naidoo
To learn more about CCRBP, how to get involved, or share any questions or comments, please email Caroline Bastian, ACASA administrator, at bastian@acasaonline.org or fill out the form below
