Contribution short abstract:

To return or not to return the colonial loots from the West to the rest? Trevor Noah and James Acaster, in their Netflix stand-up specials, have made us see through the museum world, in which the right and wrong equates the black and white, literally (?!).

Contribution long abstract:

The return of colonial collections from the West to their countries of origin has sparked heated debates among museum professionals and academics since 2002. Not only was the concept of universal museum proposed by ICOM, but the theories and practices of digital repatriation or decolonising museums have also been discussed by prominent scholars.

Nevertheless, this demand from the rest to the West remained largely unheard in Western media, until 28 November 2017, when the French president Emmanuel Macron shocked the world for triggering a restitution movement that would include other former colonial powers like Germany, Belgium, the UK and the US.

As culture is designed to cover conflicts of interest and museum be a centerstage for heritage diplomacy, one might ask: what motivated this reverse cultural diplomacy or museum play of the West, particularly with African audiences in mind? The unspoken answer seems to be the rise of China, with its Belt and Road Initiative began to extend into Africa alongside Southeast and Central Asia in 2012.

To date, only 28 pieces have been returned from France to Africa, and most African and Asian masterpieces remained unaltered in Western museums. While researchers and museum stakeholders contemplate the need for new laws, further studies of provenance and repair of culture, Trevor Noah and James Acaster, in their Netflix stand-up specials, have made us see through the museum world, in which the right and wrong equates the black and white, literally (?!).