Policy Paper on the Restitution of Human Remains

A legacy of colonial violence that needs to be addressed
 

Richard Tsogang Fossi and Andreas Mehler have published a policy paper on dealing with colonial legacy in university practice and research in the virtual encyclopaedia “Rewriting Peace and Conflict“ of the Postcolonial Hierarchies network. The paper is linked to the visit of a Maka delegation from Cameroon to the University of Freiburg, during which the repatriation of human remains of the Maka from the Alexander Ecker Collection was initiated.
 

The policy paper addresses an important debate about postcolonial hierarchies in research. It focuses on the responsibility of universities to critically engage with their colonial past and to recognize and overcome persistent relations of violence. Despite growing awareness, there is still a lack of clear guidelines for university practice and politics, particularly in dealing with colonial collections and the restitution of human remains. In order to liberate research from these problematic grounds, a systematic and methodological debate and close cooperation with affected communities and political actors is needed. The Africa Centre for Transregional Research (ACT) at the University of Freiburg successfully applied for funding from the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts (MWK) in Baden-Wuerttemberg to research the origins of colonial relics. Based on this experience, the policy paper shows concrete ways in which universities can deal with their colonial past.

It is available for download on the website of the Virtual Encyclopaedia “Rewriting Peace and Conflict” in German as well as in French.