The 5th Devolving Restitution session, organised through Derby Museums, will discuss restitution of African objects with sacred and religious significance, and those acquired through missionary activity. This series is supported by Open Society Foundations and the Pitt Rivers Museum. It is hosted by AFFORD.

About this event:

In common with many UK civic museums Derby Museums has a small but diverse collection of objects from around the world, including around 1200 from the continent of Africa. Traded, gifted, bought, stolen and looted, many of these objects were acquired by colonial officials, soldiers, missionaries, traders and travellers at the height of the British empire in the early 20th century, and deposited in Derby Museum as an expression of national achievement and civic pride. Often cavalierly misidentified, under-researched and wrongly interpreted, they were subsequently consigned to the stores for much of the last 50 years, with the decline of empire and a shift in focus of civic museums to local subjects.

Over the last five years Derby Museum has been engaging with local and wider communities to research, reinterpret and discuss this collection, uncovering many lost, hidden or implied stories, and developing a new permanent gallery Objects of Love, Hope and Fear; a World Collection. Among the collection are objects that once held deep religious or sacred significance for the people who made and used them and are arguably among the most contentious and emotive objects held by the museum. We are in the initial stages of exploring action towards restitution, finding the way forward with local communities and communities of origin.

Please join us on June 8th to further explore the subject. Speakers will include people from Derby’s African and Caribbean diaspora community, and museum workers and academics from the UK and Africa.

Speakers

Professor Kodzo Gavua, Chair of the Ghana Focal Team on Reparation and Restitution of Illegal Trafficked and Stolen Cultural Heritage and Artifacts (in conversation with Rachel Atherton, Derby Museums)

Tony Butler, Executive Director of Derby Museums in conversation with Toby Watley, Director of Collections at Birmingham Museums Trust

Deborah Dainese, PhD candidate at Sainsbury Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, researching Art, Inculturation and Catholic Missions in Kwango, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Poetry from Derby poet True Colours

Programme

Devolving Restitution webinar June 8th 2022, Derby Museums

10.30am – 2.30PM (British Summer Time)

Restitution & Belief; sacred and religious objects and missionary collecting

Morning session: Co-Chair Anisha Parmar

10.30-10.40 Welcome - Onyekachi Wambu (AFFORD UK) & Dr Lennon Mhishi (Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford)

10.40-10.45 Welcome – Tony Butler (Executive Director, Derby Museums)

10.45-10.55 Derby Devolving Restitution Group panel introductions

10.55-11.15 Recent work on African collections in Derby Museums – Emson Maneya (Volunteer Researcher, Derby Museums) & Rachel Atherton (Co-production Curator, Derby Museums)

11.15-11.45 Significance of three Nigerian objects in Derby collections - Prof Stanley Okoroafor (Professor of History and Diplomatic Studies & Museum Curator, University of Port Harcourt) & Dr Zoe Cormack (Research Associate, African Studies Centre, Pitt Rivers Museum) (pre-recorded)

11.45 – 12.20 Derby Devolving Restitution Group panel discussion

BREAK UNTIL 12.40pm

Afternoon session: Co-Chair Tara Munroe (Founder and Creative Director of Opal22 Arts and Edutainment)

12.40-12.50 poet True Colours (pre-recorded)

12.50-1.10 Civic museums & colonial collections & communities & restitution

- Tony Butler (Executive Director, Derby Museums) & Toby Watley (Director of Collections, Birmingham Museums)

1.10-1.40pm Asante shrine figure and miniature stool – Prof Kodzo Gavua (Chair of the Ghana Focal Team on Reparation and Restitution of Illegal Trafficked and Stolen Cultural Heritage and Artefacts & Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, University of Ghana) & Rachel Atherton (Co-production Curator, Derby Museums)

1.40-2.10 Missionary collecting – Prof Chris Wingfield (Associate Professor in the Arts of Africa, Sainsbury Research Unit) with recent and current PhD students at the Sainsbury Research Unit working on topics related to missionary collections and Africa. (pre-recorded)

2.10-2.20 Derby Devolving Restitution Group reflect & respond

2.20-2.30pm Closing (and introduction to the final Devolving Restitution workshop) – Dr Lennon Mhishi (Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford)

END OF SESSION – leading into:

2.40-3.00 mindfulness healing session (optional)