Nigerian Novelist, Chimamanda Adichie has advised European countries to return stolen African historic artifacts to their home countries.
The award-winning author stated this on Thursday at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, Germany.
Adichie said that artifacts are sacred and speak to the dignity of the people; to their world view and to their aspirations
According to Adichie, the position of European countries not return the artifacts because African nations can’t take care of them is paternalistic arrogance.
Adichie said “Art lives in history and history lives in art. Much of what we call African arts are also documents, they tell African stories. Some are literal in their storytelling, other sculptures and carvings are more metaphorical, they speak to the dignity of the people, to their world view and to their aspirations.
“We cannot change the past but we can change our blindness to the past. When we talk about these arts that were stolen, we are told that they cannot be returned to Africa because we cannot take good care of them.
“It is not merely condescending to say ‘I cannot return what I stole from you because you would not take good care of it’. It is also lacking in basic logic; since when has the basis of ownership been taking good care of what is owned.
“This position is paternalistic arrogance of the most stunning sort. It does not matter whether Africans, Asians or Latin America can take care of art stolen from them; what matters is that it is theirs.
“A nation that believes in the rule of law cannot possibly be debating whether to return stolen goods. It just returns them.
“If the dignity of those from whom the art were stolen does not matter; then surely this idea should matter that Europe should be what it claims to be; live up to the ideas to which you define yourself.
“Obviously, I don’t think everything should be sent back to the countries of which they came, not everything was stolen; but those things that are sacred, those things for whom people were killed those things that have in them the stains of innocent blood should be returned.
“This decision is not only about the Humboldt forum; it is about museums all over the world in France, in the Vatican, in Britain. I must acknowledge that Germany is the first of the powerful European nations that have made the gesture towards returning the Benin bronzes.”
