Great and sensational debate! It's like someone farting into one's mouth and pouring honey into it, as my people would describe such a dilemma. You are not at ease to swallow the smelly nuisance, and you are too human to spit out the tasty honey. I truly don't know what side to take on this debate. Honestly, I don't. Here is why:
In the fall of 1982, my good senior friend and professor, the late Robert (Bob) Farris Thompson drove a handful of us who were in his graduate Art History class at Yale University, to the famous Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I was shock when we got to a section of the museum dedicated to Africa, and I saw the controversial Benin bronze head. I recalled a few years earlier during FESTAC '77 when the Nigerian government petitioned the British and Portuguese governments to bring the head back to Nigeria and the two governments refused, asking for an impossible amount of money as insurance to guarantee that the artifact would be returned to London or Lisbon. It was impossible to get it back to Nigeria, and no diplomatic effort of the Black world helped. Here, right in my face, the object is sitting and shining, apparently loaned from one of those countries. I was sad, almost to the point of depression. Even Bob Thompson as well as my classmates noticed the sadness in my countenance and my silence throughout our journey back to New Haven, Connecticut. It was a debate we engaged in while in class a few days later. Everyone condemned the unfairness and an ethical failure on Britain. Portugal and the US. That was 44 years ago!
Fast forward. three years after that depressing experience, I went back home in Nigeria for my own research. I remembered the African Studies building on the campus of the then University of Ife (now OAU), which housed my academic department also harbored a huge antique collection of artifacts of immeasurable values. I thought that would console me for the pain of seeing the Benin Head languishing in a foreign land, held captive by the greed of some colonialists and invaders. But, sadly, those artifacts in African Studies were gone. I asked for their whereabouts and was told that some staff apparently stole many, smuggled them out of campus, selling them to foreigners who could give them chicken change for them. I think they said some of such folks were apprehended and persecuted, but so what? The damage had been done.
One of my past times was visiting museums, and one of the very best museums in Nigeria was the one located in the palace of the Ooni of Ife. With my bad feeling of the African Studies' mini-museum, I decided to drop by that Ife museum on this same visit. Lo and behold, the same fate had befallen the popular Ife Museum of Art and Cultural Antiquities. It was almost totally bare. The materials have been stolen and sold, almost literally mortgaging our cultural heritage. The ones that were not stolen looked terribly unkempt and unkept! Other than in some private collections, I doubt if there exists anywhere in Nigeria today where standard and decent museums of art and culture, especially with emphasis on antiques are located. My question then is this: Other than the sentiment of "tẹni-n-tẹni," why force the artifacts back home where they are not valued, and where they may end up being damaged, stolen, sold and smuggled back to the foreign lands where we fought to get them? It's a million dollar question begging for a honest answer.
As I said earlier, it's a dilemma, and it remains so in my view.
In the fall of 1982, my good senior friend and professor, the late Robert (Bob) Farris Thompson drove a handful of us who were in his graduate Art History class at Yale University, to the famous Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I was shock when we got to a section of the museum dedicated to Africa, and I saw the controversial Benin bronze head. I recalled a few years earlier during FESTAC '77 when the Nigerian government petitioned the British and Portuguese governments to bring the head back to Nigeria and the two governments refused, asking for an impossible amount of money as insurance to guarantee that the artifact would be returned to London or Lisbon. It was impossible to get it back to Nigeria, and no diplomatic effort of the Black world helped. Here, right in my face, the object is sitting and shining, apparently loaned from one of those countries. I was sad, almost to the point of depression. Even Bob Thompson as well as my classmates noticed the sadness in my countenance and my silence throughout our journey back to New Haven, Connecticut. It was a debate we engaged in while in class a few days later. Everyone condemned the unfairness and an ethical failure on Britain. Portugal and the US. That was 44 years ago!
Fast forward. three years after that depressing experience, I went back home in Nigeria for my own research. I remembered the African Studies building on the campus of the then University of Ife (now OAU), which housed my academic department also harbored a huge antique collection of artifacts of immeasurable values. I thought that would console me for the pain of seeing the Benin Head languishing in a foreign land, held captive by the greed of some colonialists and invaders. But, sadly, those artifacts in African Studies were gone. I asked for their whereabouts and was told that some staff apparently stole many, smuggled them out of campus, selling them to foreigners who could give them chicken change for them. I think they said some of such folks were apprehended and persecuted, but so what? The damage had been done.
One of my past times was visiting museums, and one of the very best museums in Nigeria was the one located in the palace of the Ooni of Ife. With my bad feeling of the African Studies' mini-museum, I decided to drop by that Ife museum on this same visit. Lo and behold, the same fate had befallen the popular Ife Museum of Art and Cultural Antiquities. It was almost totally bare. The materials have been stolen and sold, almost literally mortgaging our cultural heritage. The ones that were not stolen looked terribly unkempt and unkept! Other than in some private collections, I doubt if there exists anywhere in Nigeria today where standard and decent museums of art and culture, especially with emphasis on antiques are located. My question then is this: Other than the sentiment of "tẹni-n-tẹni," why force the artifacts back home where they are not valued, and where they may end up being damaged, stolen, sold and smuggled back to the foreign lands where we fought to get them? It's a million dollar question begging for a honest answer.
As I said earlier, it's a dilemma, and it remains so in my view.
On Friday, May 8, 2026 at 07:34:10 AM EDT, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:
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