Members of this committee will identify 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 is: where should museums begin this work on their collections? Some categories to be considered include 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 envisions 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.
Subcommittee co-chairs: Yaëlle Biro and Karen Millbourne