CFC. DECENTERING RESTITUTION [TERROIRS – NEW SERIES]

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS [TERROIRS – NEW SERIES]

DECENTERING RESTITUTION

AFRICAN PERSPECTIVES ON THE RETURN OF “THINGS”

Deadline : September 10, 2025. Authors will be notified on October 10, 2025. Accepted contributions must be finalized by January 31, 2026, for publication scheduled during the first half of 2026. Proposals and contributions should be sent to Parfait D. Akana (parfait.akana@muntu.media) and Pascal Ndjock (pascal_ndjock@yahoo.fr) with a mandatory copy to manuscripts@mip.cm.

The issue of the restitution of African cultural properties looted in previous centuries, which has been on the international political and media agenda for several years, continues to be viewed primarily through a Western-centric lens. At the heart of the exchanges and discussions that fuel this process are themes focused on the legal frameworks of the countries that hold these objects, their definitions of “art object” or “artifact,” and the universality of the Western-style Museum. As vectors of memory, identity, spirituality, and even development, the disputed entities are also at the center of complex realities, motivations, and dynamics unfolding within African societies, which are little known in their places of exile. To grasp the multidimensional issues involved in restitution, it therefore seems imperative to shift the focus of reflection and investigation.

While the dominant discourse on the subject has often been built around the simplistic dichotomy between “claimants” and “holders,” entire aspects of the issue have been ignored, neglecting the multiplicity of actors, claims, and processes of reappropriation within the communities of origin. The polysemy of these “things” is difficult to perceive and understand using the analytical categories employed by museologists and art historians. In this context, even their ritual functions, social values, and cosmogonic meanings are ignored. The debate is further stifled by the legal, technical, and conceptual argument put forward by the “holders” that these objects cannot be returned, thereby undermining the agency of African societies in the management and promotion of their heritage. It is therefore relevant to proceed with an epistemological shift that allows us to question the very foundations of the different categories and arguments.

This call for contributions, which follows on from the Retours Workshops held in Cameroon in 2023[1], aims to shift the focus and give greater consideration to African perspectives. By analyzing citizen mobilizations, artistic initiatives, state strategies, and community practices that shape the return of heritage, we aim to explore how the issue of restitution is experienced, debated, and implemented on the continent. In post-colonial contexts where states, often fragile and facing socio-economic challenges, seek levers for consensus and value creation, the hypothesis that restitution can serve as a driver for tourism development is particularly relevant. The aim is therefore to analyze how these “things”—cult objects, symbols of power, or simple artifacts—are reinvested with meaning, reintegrated into social practices, and sometimes considered as potential economic and tourist resources.

Researchers, heritage and tourism professionals, artists, activists, and civil society actors are invited to submit proposals for contributions (research articles, case studies, critical essays) that fall within one of the following areas:

  • Things in care: The return of things implies forms of inhabiting places that are restored, gaps that are filled. It is a goal of care that aims to repair and weld together what, due to the absence of the thing, constituted a starting point, namely an extension of the etiological field correlated with new forms of anomie. From the above, we can already sketch out, based on the place, a grammar of care in a community and the role that things play in it by constituting, for example, the case of Ngonso stolen by Kurt von Pavel in 1903, the “normative link ” (Axel Honneth) that not only integrates and enables the members of the community to function, but also dignifies them. Things constitute the anthropological and moral support of social life, which is organized around them. They make it possible to establish a set of normative principles, a world order with its philosophy and relationships of recognition that guarantee care, enable subjects to be repaired, and dignify them (through rituals), first and foremost in their own eyes. However, as Axel Honneth observes, for example: “The disappearance of these relationships of recognition leads to experiences of contempt and humiliation that cannot be without consequences for the formation of the individual’s identity.” (2004:134). This is particularly true of colonialism and its multiple dispossessions. This axis will explore and document, from an empirical and critical perspective, the presence and absence of things in care, understood here in an exhaustively comprehensive way.
  • Resistance, lack of interest in restitution, and associated abuses: this theme invites us to deconstruct the unanimous image that seems to be conveyed by the debate on restitution in African countries. It involves exploring the internal obstacles and lack of interest in the process in order to highlight the emergence of actors and intermediaries who exploit the context to mobilize funding for purposes that are not clearly stated.
  • Collective mobilization and identity (re)construction: to what extent does the prospect of the return of “things” give rise to dynamics of collective mobilization, while contributing to the (re)configuration of local identities?
  • Process of reappropriation and resignification of returned “things” – As Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy analyze when discussing the issue of translocations and transformations of works, we know that: “Once displaced, objects have undergone various processes and successive trials of re-semantization, and have been overlaid with several layers of meaning.” (Sarr, Savoy, 2018). But in the context of restitution, to what extent are ritual practices, the transmission of endogenous knowledge, and local social structures transformed by the return? Does this transformation fit into the perspective of a dialogue or a break with their previous status as “museum fetishes” in the West? Within the communities of origin, what are the modalities of material and symbolic reappropriation of the returned “things”?
  • Restitution in contexts of armed conflict and post-conflict: this involves analyzing the complexity and uniqueness of the issue in crisis areas, in order to explore not only how violence can affect the traceability and protection of heritage, but also the challenges of returning “things” to these territories.
  • Between heritage tourism economies and imaginaries: How do tourism economies and tourist imaginaries impact the staging and narration of returned objects? What tensions arise between the proclaimed authenticity of objects and the marketing (commercialization) of their original cultural meaning? The aim here is to explore the socio-economic, cultural, and political issues involved in this tourist heritage, by revisiting the strategies of states, communities, and other actors involved.
  • Enunciative transactions in the field of return: This axis is based on the idea that the return of objects constitutes a field, i.e., a symbolic space characterized by its own rules, with forces competing for the appropriation or reappropriation of objects belonging to African cultural heritage. It proposes to collect and analyze, from African countries, enunciative transactions in the field of return, as these allow us to consider the question of the return of objects from a relational perspective that articulates history, race, and politics. Particular attention will be paid to texts drawn from the corpus of media reports (new and traditional media), expert works, public statements by government officials, normative documents, etc.

Contributions based on specific case studies (particularly Benin, Cameroon, Mali, and Senegal), comparative analyses, interdisciplinary approaches, and innovative methodologies are particularly encouraged. Proposals for contributions (with a title and abstract of approximately 700 words, including an indication of the theoretical and methodological frameworks used) must be submitted by September 10, 2025. Authors will be notified on October 10, 2025. Accepted contributions must be finalized by January 31, 2026, for publication scheduled during the first half of 2026. Proposals and contributions should be sent to Parfait D. Akana (parfait.akana@muntu.media) and Pascal Ndjock (pascal_ndjock@yahoo.fr) with a mandatory copy to manuscripts@mip.cm.

Bibliography

  • COUSIN, S., DOQUET, A. et GALITZINE-LOUMPET, A., Retours des restitutions, Cahiers d’études africaines, n°251-252.
  • HONNETH, A. (2004). La théorie de la reconnaissance : une esquisse. Revue du MAUSS, N° 23(1), 133-136. https://doi.org/10.3917/rdm.023.0133.
  • SARR, F., SAVOY, B., Restituer le patrimoine africain, Philippe Rey/Seuil, 2018, 188 p.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR AUTHORS

  • Times New Roman font, 12 points (for text, including titles); 1.5 line spacing. 8,000 to 12,000 words (including references).
  • QUOTATIONS: quotations longer than three lines are indented (Times New Roman, 10 points with 1 pt indentation on the right).
  • NOTES AND REFERENCES: We recommend the use of endnotes at the end of each chapter/article. Similarly, the bibliography or list of references is placed at the end of each chapter/article, immediately after the notes. Reserve notes exclusively for explanations that develop an idea or comment on a quotation, in cases where they might disrupt the flow of the text. When providing references, use the Harvard system (author-date). In parentheses, mention the author’s name, the date of publication, and the page reference following the quotation, e.g., “This article seeks to interrogate the issue of youth agency and the instrumentality of social media in the mobilization and organization of the protests.” (Akor 2017: 109).

[1] Funded and organized by ANR ReTours, the Retours Workshops were held from May 22 to 27, 2023, in Yaoundé and Bandjoun. ANR ReTours, which is funding this special issue of Terroirs magazine, is a collaborative, multidisciplinary research program bringing together researchers from different institutions and operating in several countries in Africa and Europe.


OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
coordination (9 août 2025). CFC. DECENTERING RESTITUTION [TERROIRS – NEW SERIES]. RETOURS & RESTITUTIONS. GEOPOLITIQUES, ECONOMIES ET IMAGINAIRES DE LA RESTITUTION. Consulté le 9 novembre 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/14gy6


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