Art History 352rp - Seminar: Topics in Art History- Uncollecting: Repatriations, Reparations and the Ethics of Return
Sem:T-Repatriations
Spring
2024
01
4.00
Dana Leibsohn
W 1:20 PM - 4:00 PM
Smith College
ARH-352rp-01-202403
Hillyer 109
dleibsoh@smith.edu
This course studies the ethics of return, focusing on collections of belongings made under colonial conditions. Across the 2000s, hundreds of artifacts, artworks, ancestral creations and animal (including human) bodies have been repatriated. But what does it mean to “return” belongings taken—indeed, often stolen—in the colonial past? What, really, can repatriation accomplish? Is reparation a better option, and what might it entail? Drawing examples from a wide range of geographies, and highlighting recent—especially decolonial—scholarship, the course debates these issues. Open to students in any discipline. Pre-req: one class in the visual arts, archaeology, anthropology, museum studies or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required.
[CE] JR/SR only