The Legal Status of Caribbean Collections Abroad

Summary

While the restitution debate has developed substantially since the Second World War – some even herald the age of ‘post-restitution’ – this is not necessarily the case for the Caribbean. Although archaeological and ethnographic objects of Caribbean origin have long been expropriated, the restitution debate has not played as essential a role in post-colonial discourse in the islands as in other former colonies. This is due to a number of reasons: first, most of the cultural objects outside the Caribbean and in European and US collections pre-date 1492 and are perceived to be culturally linked to Pre-Columbian rather than the present day multi-ethnic Caribbean societies. Second, these collections have not been studied to any great extent, thus precluding the basic knowledge required for restitution claims. Meanwhile, objects continue to be taken out of the region. This paper analyses the legal issues surrounding Caribbean objects located in museums in Europe and the US. It assesses the legal status of such objects, analyses the current international framework applying to the return of cultural objects illegally removed; and discusses the symbolism of restitution in the context of the CARICOM reparations claim, which includes cultural rehabilitation as one of the aims of reparation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Caribbean Archaeological Collections: History, Museums, and Politics

Keywords

Spatial Coverage