Sovereignty and the return of African cultural property.
Dakar, February 23–25, 2026

In partnership with the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire (IFAN), Cheikh Anta Diop University the Museum of Black Civilisations , the Musée historique de Gorée and the Musée Théodore Monod of African Arts, the international research program ReTours is organizing an event in Dakar from February 23 to 26, 2026. T
his event consists of ;
- an international conference with a call for papers,
- an exhibition,
- master classes, and a competition for UCAD doctoral students.
The collaborative research program ReTours: Geopolitics, Economies, and Imaginaries of Restitution has brought together some 20 researchers from different disciplines since 2020. Through surveys conducted in a dozen countries, the project aims to shift the focus of research:
- from the West to the African countries concerned
- from issues of restitution to issues of return
- from a museum-centered vision to the roles of diasporas and tourism
- from official heritage bodies and authorities to places, narratives, and transmissions considered marginal, secondary, or unofficial.
The ReTours program has worked to analyze the positions on returns and restitutions in Cameroon, Benin, Senegal, and Mali. In addition to publications and a blog, seminars, workshops, conferences, performances, and exhibitions have been held in three of the countries where the project is being implemented: Benin (2022), Cameroon (2023), and France (2024). To conclude this cycle, ReTours is organizing an event in Dakar from February 23 to 26, 2026, in partnership with IFAN and Cheikh Anta Diop University. This event will consist of an international symposium with a call for papers, an exhibition, master classes, and a competition for students.
Call for papers for the Dakar 2026 conference
deadline Oct. 30, 2025
Germany and the Netherlands have returned thousands of items, particularly to Nigeria. At the same time, other countries still have cultural property in Western museums due to colonial history and a variety of reasons. For example, only 27 items were returned to Benin and Senegal under an exceptional law passed in France at the end of 2020. A framework law was introduced in August 2025 and will be debated in the French parliament in September 2025. The restrictions it contains are already raising questions: exclusion of so-called “military” items, conditions attached to 7 restitutions. This restrictive law comes at a particular geopolitical moment. Indeed, military and civilian regimes in French-speaking West Africa are claiming full sovereignty over their resources and political decisions. They intend to break with foreign influences and take control of their own economic, political, and cultural destiny. These choices have consequences for their restitution policies: repeated requests or, conversely, a refusal to contract or pursue claims. Requests for restitution are justified by the need to recover cultural sovereignty and the refusal to submit to the conditions imposed by the laws of former colonial powers to assert political sovereignty. Alongside or independently of states, cultural institutions, NGOs, civil or religious communities, and diasporas are mobilizing to recover their heritage by means other than state-tostate restitution: purchases, donations, loans, circulation, and digitization. This is particularly the case in Senegal, with the purchase in 2023 by the Mouride community of a collection of photos of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, founder of the Mouridiyya Sufi brotherhood. Taking this context and current events into account, the conference intends to focus on the issue of returns and restitution from the perspective of the countries that have been plundered, and according to the following themes:
1) Political sovereignty: restitutions, returns, and current geopolitical events. How have the positions of African states and pan-African organizations evolved regarding restitution? How does the discourse of “sovereignty” translate into concrete terms for issues and demands for restitution? How do the communities and diasporas affected by looted property position themselves in this context?
2) Cultural sovereignty: images and perceptions of looting and restitution, the role of museums and communities that own cultural property. What media and political prominence do restitution issues have in the countries to which the property is being returned? How is the issue of looting and restitution raised and debated in different social groups? The films Restituer? L’Afrique en quête de ses chefs-d’œuvre (Nora Philippe) and Dahomey (Mati Diop) depict debates between students from Côte d’Ivoire and Benin about restitution. What do students in Senegal think?
3) Economic sovereignty: tourism, ancient and contemporary art markets Claims, sales bans, purchases, media coverage: what are the positions of states and communities regarding their property circulating on the ancient art markets, particularly auction houses? What impact will the entry into force on June 28 of the European regulation on the introduction and import of cultural goods into the territory of EU member states have on African stakeholders in the art markets and beyond? What place do countries give to these restitutions in the cultural economy? Why would a returned object have more value than heritage that has remained in the country? What value are we talking about?
Modalities & deadline :
Proposals for papers may be individual or collective, involving members of the communities concerned or professionals. They may focus on a particular country, community or collection, or take a comparative approach. Historians, sociologists, anthropologists, linguists, lawyers and artists will reflect on and take stock of the issue of restitution in Dakar, but above all they will lay the foundations for a new vision of the problem. Papers may fall within the above-mentioned areas, but we welcome other perspectives on the issue. The deadline for submitting abstracts is 30 October 2025 at this address: RetoursRestitutionsDakar2026@gmail.com.
Please indicate the author’s name, affiliation and contact details of the corresponding author, if applicable.
Items to be included:
- A clear title.
- Five keywords.
- The sub-theme(s) chosen
- A 250-300 word abstract (research objectives, methodology, main results).
- Authors whose abstracts are accepted will be notified by 30 November 2025. An open edition publication is planned. If your paper is accepted, your text will be expected by 30 January 2026 at the latest.
For further information, please contact us at the following address: RetoursRestitutionsDakar2026@gmail.com.
Banner image: ‘Demoon dikkat – Les restitués’, 2025. (credit: S Cousin Kouton)
Organising Committee :
Mamarame Seck, Wagane Gueye, Saskia Cousin, Anne Doquet, Alexandra Galitzine-Loumpet, Agathe Diabou Copie, Abdoulaye Ba, Malick Ndiaye, Bousso Top, Say Faye, Hawa Ly Bassoum, Matar Ndiaye, Mor Ndao, Elieth Eyebiyi, Nanette Snoep.
Scientific Comittee :
- Pr Saskia Cousin (Université de Nanterre)
- Pr Anne Doquet (IRD)
- Pr Alexandra Galitzine-Loumpet (Cessma)
- Pr Sara Tassi (Université Libre de Bruxelles)
- Pr Dr. Didier Houenoude (Université d’Abomey-Calavi)
- Pr Mor Ndao, (UCAD, ETHOS)
- Pr Felwine Sarr (Duke University)
- Pr Bénédicte Savoy (Université technique de Berlin)
- Pr Abdoulaye Baïla Ndiaye( IFAN)
- Pr Matar Ndiaye ( IFAN)
- Pr incent Négri (ISP, ENS Paris-Saclay)
- Pr Julie Peghini (Université Paris 8)
OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
coordination (16 septembre 2025). CFP. Sovereignty and the return of African cultural property. Dakar, February 23–25, 2026. Deadline Oct. 30. RETOURS & RESTITUTIONS. GEOPOLITIQUES, ECONOMIES ET IMAGINAIRES DE LA RESTITUTION. Consulté le 8 novembre 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/14og1