Paper short abstract:

Restitution is not simply a return to Africa of goods taken away during the colonial period. It is above all a work of mourning and dialogue on the violence of the past, on the tumultuous present and on a future to be shared. The concept of restitution seen from Africa must then be decolonized.

Paper long abstract:

Current debates on restitution in Europe focus mainly on the material return of cultural goods taken from Africa. It is as if Europe wants to unilaterally get rid of a cumbersome past and move on. Indeed, from an African perspective, the situation is more complex than Europe imagines. Men were subjected to portage, murdered and their remains taken for anthropological studies in universities and other research institutes, royal palaces were burnt down and regalia and ancestral and religious figures looted. The colonial mourning process has not yet taken place, and the wounds related to this painful past and passed on to post-colonial generations have not yet healed. The context of violence linked to the dislocation of cultural goods present in European museums has not yet been sufficiently explored and discussed. The memories of the present linked to this common past are still superimposed. For a common future, a shared memory is needed. The concept of restitution should therefore also be deconstructed and thus decolonized.