Message from Virginia Steel, Norman and Armena Powell University Librarian
Repatriation has increasingly become an important topic in the museum, anthropology, and archaeology worlds, yet it is but a blip on the radar in library and archive circles. In conjunction with its return of Judaica items to the Jewish Museum in Prague (JMP), the UCLA Library’s International & Area Studies Department hosted an online symposium featuring international experts, who discussed the complicated histories of Western cultural heritage collections, the expropriation of artifacts through colonialism and war, the politics and ethics of ownership and restitution, and decolonization in libraries, archives, and museums. Using case studies as the bases for these discussions, the symposium intended to bring greater awareness of these issues within libraries and archives. It could also be of interest to scholars in anthropology, archaeology, area studies, art history, history, Indigenous studies, information studies, law, and museum studies.
Land Acknowledgment
UCLA Library acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (the Los Angeles basin and So. Channel Islands). As a land grant institution, we pay our respects to the Honuukvetam (Ancestors), ‘Ahiihirom (Elders) and ‘Eyoohiinkem (our relatives/relations) past, present and emerging.
Sponsors
This link opens in a new windoA virtual international symposium to discuss the complicated histories of cultural heritage collections, cultural destruction through colonialism and looting, the politics and ethics of repatriation and restitution, and decolonization in libraries, archives, and museum
