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CFP. Sovereignty and the return of African cultural property. Dakar, February 23–25, 2026. Deadline Oct. 30

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

The ReTours programme cannot undertake to cover the travel expenses of the authors of the selected proposals. Whenever possible, it will support any efforts to seek additional funding from partners.

deadline Oct. 30, 2025

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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.

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AAC: Who tells the story* ? Stratégies discursives en temps de restitution – Who tells the story* ? Discursives strategies in time of restitution/ REAF 2022, deadline 18 mars 2022

Appel à contribution ouvert : (in english below)

Who tells the story* ? Stratégies discursives en temps de restitution

Saskia Cousin (Sophiapol), Anne Doquet (Imaf), Alexandra Galitzine-Loumpet (Cessma)

7ÈMES RENCONTRES DES ÉTUDES AFRICAINES EN FRANCE (TOULOUSE, 28 JUIN – 1ER JUILLET 2022)

https://reaf2022.sciencesconf.org/ (A17) DATE LIMITE : 18 mars 2022 (voir ci-dessous)

Dans son discours à l’Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo de Ouagadougou (nov. 2017), Emmanuel Macron appelle de ses vœux un mouvement de « restitutions temporaires ou définitives » du patrimoine africain. Qu’entendre par « restitutions temporaires » ? Comme le note le rapport Sarr-Savoy (2018), cette formulation est un oxymore qui suscite à la fois des tensions et des querelles d’interprétation. Elle participe pourtant à la nouvelle doxa des musées occidentaux, au renouvellement des coopérations Nord-Sud, à ce que l’Unesco appelle la « circulation des biens culturels et le patrimoine en partage » (juin 2018). De même, la montée en puissance de la notion de  “provenance” interroge. Les recherches en provenance sont en effet diversement considérées, soit comme un “moment nécessaire et salvateur” (Sarr-Savoy) d’accès aux violences coloniales des spoliations, soit comme asymétriques : majoritairement issues des musées occidentaux, écartant spécialistes et savoirs locaux, elles contribueraient à freiner les processus de restitution.

L’émergence de cette terminologie dans l’arène des restitutions pose ainsi des questions qui vont au-delà d’une simple approche sémantique : c’est également de positionnement et de volonté politique qu’il s’agit, de la part d’acteurs institutionnels, du marché de l’art, des communautés non-étatiques, du militantisme, mais aussi de la recherche. Comment nommer précisément les processus en cours ? Eviter “d’effacer” selon le propos de Chimamanda Adichie ? Comment penser les glissements sémantiques, les euphémisations, l’alternance de termes paravents ou frontaux, leurs usages dans les discours militants ou réactionnaires ? Qui parle ? Quels sont les discours alternatifs ? Ce panel voudrait revenir sur ces enjeux et politiques discursives en s’appuyant, entre-autres, sur les travaux menés dans le cadre de l’ANR ReTours https://retours.hypotheses.org.

Propositions à envoyer à  / Please send proposals to : 

  • annedoquet@yahoo.fr
  • saskiacousin@icloud.com 
  • galitzine.alexandra@gmail.com

avant le 18 mars 2022 / before march, 18th

*Chimananda Adichie – inauguration du Humbold Forum, 25 sept. 2021

CFP- 7TH MEETING OF AFRICAN STUDIES IN FRANCE (TOULOUSE, JUNE 28 – JULY 1, 2022)
https://reaf2022.sciencesconf.org/ (A17) DEADLINE: March 18, 2022 – please circulate

Continuer la lecture de « AAC: Who tells the story* ? Stratégies discursives en temps de restitution – Who tells the story* ? Discursives strategies in time of restitution/ REAF 2022, deadline 18 mars 2022 »