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The Brutish Museums
The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution
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The Brutish Museums
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
This book is essential reading for those interested in art history, museum studies, post-colonial scholarship, and cultural heritage. It suits academics, students, and anyone engaged in understanding the legacy of Empire and the evolving responsibilities of museums today.
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See moreA call for western museums to wash their hands of colonial blood
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Description
New York Times: 'Best Art Books' 2020
'Essential' - Sunday Times
'Brilliantly enraged' - New York Review of Books
'A real game-changer' - Economist
Walk into any Western museum today and you will see the curated spoils of Empire. They sit behind plate glass: dignified, tastefully lit. Accompanying pieces of card offer a name, date, and place of origin. They do not mention that the objects are all stolen.
Few artefacts embody this history of rapacious and extractive colonialism better than the Benin Bronzes - a collection of thousands of metal plaques and sculptures depicting the history of the Royal Court of the Obas of Benin City, Nigeria. Pillaged during a British naval attack in 1897, the loot was passed on to Queen Victoria, the British Museum, and countless private collections.
The Brutish Museums sits at the heart of a heated debate about cultural restitution, repatriation, and the decolonisation of museums. Since its first publication, museums across the western world have begun to return their Bronzes to Nigeria, heralding a new era in the way we understand the collections of empire we once took for granted.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780745341767
Publisher: Pluto Press
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 20 August 2020
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Pluto Press
Illustration: 16 Plates, color
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 150.0mm
Height: 230.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 336
About the Author
Dan Hicks is Professor of Contemporary Archaeology at the University of Oxford, Curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum and a Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford. He is also a Non-Executive Director and Trustee of Museum of London Archaeology. He was awarded the 2017 Rivers Memorial Medal by the Royal Anthropological Institute. He has published eight books including The Cambridge Companion to Historical Archaeology (CUP, 2006).
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