Conference Programme
Imperial Artefacts: History, Law and the Looting of Cultural Property
DAY 1
09:15 – 09:30 Welcome words: Inge van Hulle & Diana M. Natermann
09:30 – 10:30 Keynote: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Zimmerer – Looting, restitution, reconciliation (09:30 Germany)
10:30 – 10:45 Coffee break
1. Diplomacy, Identity and Restitution – Panel Chair: Diana Natermann
- 10:45 – 11:15 Annalisa Bolin (10:45 Sweden), ‘Power and Possibility: The Return of Rwanda’s Stolen Bones’
- 11:15 – 11:45 Sahra Rausch (11:15 Germany), ‘An Affective De-Memorization? Debates over Colonial Amnesia regarding the Repatriation of Human Remains from Colonial Contexts in France and Germany’
- 11:45 – 12:15 Lars Müller (11:45 Germany), ‘Delaying, Evading, Rejecting. Western Reactions to Sri Lankan Demands for Restitution around 1980’
12:15 – 13:15 Lunch Break
2. Multi-disciplinary Perspectives on Colonial Violence and Restitution – Panel Chair: TBA
- 13:15 – 13:45 Rotem Giladi (13:15 Israel), ‘Reading Between Categories: Corpora, Culture, Property and the Laws of War’
- 13:45 – 14:15 Jan Huesgen (13:45 Germany), ‘The Enemy on Display – Suits of Armour in Military Museums’
- 14:15 – 14:45 Ivan Obadić, Robert Mrljic & Miran Marelja (14:15 Croatia, Belgium), ‘War, spoils and return of cultural property: framing of restitution law at the Congress of Vienna in 1815’
14:45 – 15:15 Coffee Break
3. Law and Restitution: Past & Present – Panel Chair: TBA
- 15:15 – 15:45 Afolasade A. Adewumi (15:15 Nigeria), ‘Does Utilitarianism Merge the Dichotomy Between the Nationalist and Internationalist Conception of Cultural Property in the Quest for Restitution?
- 15:45 – 16:15 Arianna Visconti (15:45 Italy), ‘A Paradox in Law: Italy’s Ambivalent Approach to Restitution Claims’
- 16:15 – 16:45 Marie-Sophie de Clippele & Bert Demarsin (16:15 Belgium), ‘Rights, wrongs and remedies - Working towards colonial heritage repatriation legislation for Belgium’
16:45 – 17:00 Coffee Break
4. Heritage, Discourse and the Representation of Cultural Artefacts – Panel Chair: TBA
- 17:00 – 17:30 Kokou Azamede (16:00 Togo), Acquisition methods of colonial objects and the traditional perception of the museum in German Togo
- 17:30 – 18:00 Janne Lahti (18:30 Finland), ‘Mesa Verde and Finland: Stolen Artefacts, Contested Discourses, and Nordic Colonial Legacies’
- 18:00 – 18:30 Donna Yates (18:00 The Netherlands) & Brieanah Gouveia (07:00 Hawaii), ‘Provenance narratives of colonial exploitation as value enhancers on the Oceanic art market’
DAY 2
09:15 – 10:15 Keynote: Junior Prof. Dr. Matthias Goldmann, (09:15 Germany) ‘Germany and the Herero and Nama: Will restitution ever happen?’
10:15 – 10:30 Coffee break
1. Enduring Coloniality and Cultural Heritage – Panel Chair: TBA
- 10:30 – 11:00 Iain Sandford and Ada Siqueira (20:30 Sydney, Australia), ‘The Destruction of the Juukan Gorge Caves: A Study on the Role of International Law in Protecting Cultural Heritage in Times of Peace’
- 11:00 – 11:30 Norman Aselmeyer (11:00 Germany), Intangible Heritage: The Man-Eaters of Tsavo and their Global (After)Lives
- 11:30 – 12:00 Marcelo Marques Miranda & Jully Acuña Suárez (11:30 The Netherlands), ‘Repatriation as a means, not as an end’
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch Break
2. International Legal History and Restitution Debates – Panel Chair: Inge van Hulle
- 13:00 – 13:30 Tomás Irish (12:00 UK), ‘“The Danger of Arbitrary Decisions”: The Paris Peace Conference and Cultural Reparations after the First World War’
- 13:30 – 14:00 Sebastian Willert (13:30 Germany), ‘A German Excavation for the Ottoman Imperial Museum? The Scramble for Objects between Berlin and Istanbul at Tell Halaf, 1911–1914’
- 14:00 – 14:30 Florian Wagner (14:00 Germany): ‘Colonialist Notions of Property: How European Lawyers Legitimized Dispossession (1880s-1950s)’
14:30 – 15:00 Coffee Break
3. Restitution, Heritage, and Human Rights – Panel Chair: TBA
- 15:00 – 15:30 Evelien Campfens (15:00 The Netherlands), ‘Whose cultural objects? Introducing ‘heritage title’ in a human rights law approach’
- 15:30 – 16:00 Jihane Chedouki (15:30 Morocco): ‘From a moral function to a utilitarian function: the transformation of ancient objects and monuments in the Arab world in the 19-20th centuries’
- 16:00 – 16:30 Gretchen Allen (15:00 Ireland), ‘A Way for the Giant’s Cause: an examination of Irish indigenous rights in the case of Charles Byrne’
- 16:30 – 17:00 Caroline Drieënhuizen & Fenneke Sysling (16:30 The Netherlands), ‘Java Man: restitution claims at the natural history museum’
17:00 Closing remarks: Inge van Hulle & Diana M. Natermann