Tuesday, October 2, 2012
The subject of repatriation has been discussed alot lately in museums and collections around the world. The basic definition of repatriation is the act of returning something back to its original owner or descendants. Many countries, including Egypt, China, and Nigeria. The repatriation of native american artifacts began with the passing of NAGPRA (Native Americans Grave Protection and Repatriation Act) passed in 1990. This law gave native tribes the right to reclaim human remains and culturally significant items if they could prove a relation to the tribe of origin. Museums around the world are being asked to return many objects to their country of origin. The idea being that if you want to see an Egyptian mummy you wil leither have to travel to Egypt or visit a museum with an exhibit sponsored by Egypt. What do you think? Would you really want to visit an American museum that only contained American items and reconstructions of foreign items? Or would you travel abroad to see the real thing?
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It is no wonder many artifacts in museums around the city look like replicas. While the idea of seeing the real item is nice, I'm not sure I'm that sentimental enough to travel a great distance to see what it looks like. It is not like we can touch it.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting point Mark. At first, I thought "well why not? The country should have it's artifacts." After giving it some more thought though...I don't think I would want to go to American museums just to see American artifacts. However, as Matt said, as much as I personally like to travel, I would not want to travel outside the country solely to see artifacts that I couldn't see here in the states. I believe museums around the world should hold and present artifacts from all cultures, countries, ethnicity, etc. I just don't know how this would be possible. As in, what or who would determine what artifacts can be shown in other parts of the world, and which artifacts should be located in their country of origin? Very thought-provoking question!
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