Why museums are returning cultural treasures | Chip Colwell
Archaeologist and curator Chip Colwell collects artifacts for his museum, but he also returns them to where they came from. In a thought-provoking talk, he shares how some museums are confronting their legacies of stealing spiritual objects and pillaging ancient graves -- and how they're bridging divides with communities who are demanding the return of their cultural treasures.
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In Brazil we had 2 indigenous peoples' museums in Rio de Janeiro. The first one's collection had outgrown it, so the second one was established in a larger facility. The first museum then went into disrepair, and got to the point of being closed for safety reasons. And then something amazing happened. Indigenous people discovered the old abandoned museum and began camping inside the premises when passing through town. When questioned, they just said they were indigenous people taking care of the indigenous people's museum. In their own precarious situation, they breathed new live into the old museum, which quickly became a hub for indigenous populations, activists, athropologists and everything in between. A living thriving polytribe camping community developed. It has workshops, it had classes, it had a bit of social work, it had festivals, it had he tribes speaking for themselves to whoever wanted to learn from the primary source. But when this community applied for official recognition as an institution, a living museum and cultural centre, they were denied. When the academic community of humanities and social sciences vouched for this community, it was ignored. When the Soccer World Cup came and the community was considered too ugly, too ideologically dangerous, too prone to inconvenient protesting, it was removed by force. To this day the old museum remains empty, just a ruin and nothing else. And thus ended the best native american museum experience ever. The end.
@blueraspberrylemonade32
5 жыл бұрын
We need to stop letting people destroy positive community centers
@maciek_k.cichon
5 жыл бұрын
Wow, things people are capable of, well both ways...
@copperlapislazuli4156
5 жыл бұрын
How sad.
I realized how important it was for museums to return cultural properties. I thought that this was an important process to correct historical injustice and restore cultural pride of indigenous communities, beyond just ownership issues. I think this effort to reflect on past wrongs by returning cultural properties plays a big role in promoting cultural understanding and respect around the world.
Use all the imaging technology you can to make near-perfect computer models which can be studied indefinitely by unlimited numbers of people and can be used as blueprints for identical recreations. Return the original artefacts to the cultures who created them.
@108nighthawk
5 жыл бұрын
Not my philosophy
@Kongolox
5 жыл бұрын
Exactly!
@TwistyTreeline
5 жыл бұрын
still won't account for dating and composition of artefacts.
@LughSummerson
5 жыл бұрын
Scrimmy Bingus Yes, it does. We already have the technology to study composition. A digital model could include all measurable data.
Before i watched this talk, i hadn't recognized how much important work archaeologists and museums do play in our world.
@ashvazdanghe
5 жыл бұрын
Brian Kagimu They stole all heritage of third world countries
@Katastr0phic_Katicorn
11 ай бұрын
@@ashvazdangheAlso in "first" world countries, from people colonised like the Indigenous peoples of Canada.
When will Indians get back their kohinoor diamond that was once the crown jewel of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh
@shirishshukla8349
5 жыл бұрын
@Dack Hacksaw computers are bought Kohinoor was exploited from COLONISED INDIA
@SarahSrinivasan
5 жыл бұрын
Please read your history. Things that were honestly bought from people are not in question. Things that are forcefully taken are a different story. The kohinoor is one of such objects. It belongs with a culture and people from who it was taken wrongfully.
@rizkaphonna6618
5 жыл бұрын
I know this case from bollywood movie "bang bang"😁😁😁
@chrismason6857
5 жыл бұрын
Never. Rightly so. It was gifted to us and belongs with us. And it will be preserved for generations to come.
@harshbutt
5 жыл бұрын
Spoils of war from an empire that no longer exists. All is not lost though, you can go visit it at the Tower of London.
My teacher is from a very tight nit amd resilient indigenous community from the highlands of oaxaca. She said her town’s codex is somewhere in a museum in the netherlands! Its so messed up what use do random white academics with it and why do they deserve this so much instead of the communities whose ancient wisdom it is
What if the real treasures are the friends we made along the way?
My countries(Bosnia and Herzegovina) birth certificate is in Russia and as is, it's not coming back. It's nice to hear that someone understands what history can mean for someone. (The document is called The charter of Ban Kulin if you're interested )
This comment section is beyond toxic. I hope many of you are ashamed of your inability to acknowledge these stolen artifacts and that they ought to return to where they belong. There’s are tours and replicas enough to get the same effect of this art draw.
If only more persons understand what this enlightened individual knows & cares about.
British stole burmese Ruby , should return it too.
I'm simply amazed people find the concept of returning looted artefacts offensive. Conservatism is a T R I P
@blue_tetris
5 жыл бұрын
It's an American thing. Every side has exactly two issues for these people. So if you hear something as non-controversial as "ice is cold", you can bet right-wing resources like deeptruth.governmentsecrets.ru/realinfo are coming up with their measured rebuttal.
@sttate
5 жыл бұрын
Trying to 'correct' history by destroying the present is retarded. Before the world became globalised every group and government were their own little competing tribes, there were victors in the warring tribes and eventually some tribes became greater and more victorious than others, founding the modern world. That is spilt milk, crying over it is asinine and not productive. A wants X artifact back from Y, because it was taken from their ancestors in their defeat? Well Y should actually go to B's ancestors, because A's ancestors defeated B's ancestors before that and took their land and resources, meaning everything A *and* Y own belong to B! Wait, B's ancestors actually defeated C's ancestors and took all their resources, meaning everything Y, A, and B own all really belong to C! (repeat ad nauseam) Oppression Olympics is not a game you can base laws off of as it makes no sense to begin with. You can say "That doesn't belong to you!!!" all you want, but that means it doesn't belong to *you* either and so you have no leg to stand on. It is a pointless controversy and only cheapens and threatens history.
@kichigaisensei
5 жыл бұрын
blue, Excuse me? Tell me where the Vatican got the St. Peter's Square obelisk and who put it there. Hint: Not Americans.
@DeoMachina
5 жыл бұрын
+gnihton Amazing. Not even a speck of self-awareness. Nations of people are being denied their own history, yet giving them access to it is the threat in your eyes. If it's pointless, then isn't ownership of these objects also pointless? It it belongs to one country because their ancestors stole it, doesn't that give them the right to return the object to where it was made, if they so choose? Remember nobody is being forced to hand the objects over. If my country returns what it looted to another nation, that's because we decided to do that, and you don't get to tell us otherwise.
@sttate
5 жыл бұрын
@@DeoMachina "If it's pointless, then isn't ownership of these objects also pointless?" Completely and totally devoid of any kind of reason. Just... why? Did you even read any of it? Why should I put more effort into this exchange than you do? Of course you have the right to do what you want with *your* property... because it's *your* property. Exercising your rights isn't inherently moral though. I would say it's immoral to send history into a shredder, as should anybody but the most misanthropic troglodyte. If the country has equivalent museums and respect for history, it is a morally neutral action - if they don't, it is a morally bad action.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate how you express and face the sorrow of many peoples hidden behind those wonderful 'objects' in museums. Absolutely, all of them must be returned to the places where they originally come from. If the descendants of the creators of those works decide to stop to treat them as the object of worship and display them in a museum, it is their choice.
Indiana Jones said 'that belongs in a muesum'. But he did not specify which muesum.
How about the fact they are safer in museums abroad than being destroyed by fanatics in their native lands? Yes, I'm talking about ISIS for one.
@morpheus1586
5 жыл бұрын
Its theirs to destroy and frankly none of your business
@rodrigomolina8026
5 жыл бұрын
Or like in brasil, with the museum on fire
@BankruptGreek
5 жыл бұрын
no isis in greece, yet England still has part of the Parthenon.
@josephm.6453
5 жыл бұрын
Actually the video of isis destroying "lamassu" in Iraq is fake because they didn't use the original ones. They have been smuggled outside Iraq. I remember also back in 2003 in my city, the Americans tried to lift the lion of Babylon with a helicopter but couldn't. But I agree with idea that these artifacts are a product of humanity and it's okay to be shared all around the world.
@michaelpark6417
5 жыл бұрын
Japan holds many of Koreas ancient artifacts when they colonized them. Those should be returned and also not every place they are returning the artifacts to is in danger of terrorist attacks
Can't you make wargod replicas? Both sides win.
@yehudamosheftaya9142
5 жыл бұрын
The Jewish brain strikes again...:)
@daddyleon
5 жыл бұрын
Of course you can, but the silly people who like originals will say only the originals are worth millions of dollars while the replicas are next to worthless.
@akram4179
5 жыл бұрын
Who gets the original?
@daddyleon
5 жыл бұрын
*+akram4179* the 'tribe' from whom it was stolen.
@akram4179
5 жыл бұрын
+daddyleon Unfortunately the museums that hold these artifacts would disagree. And since they are from western countries, no one will force them to give up their possession.
Next: Native Americans want America back.
@iron60bitch62
5 жыл бұрын
mhtinla hahaha
@iron60bitch62
5 жыл бұрын
I guess asking for the thousands of innocent people who’ve been killed by roadside bombs in suicide vest that’s a conversation
@brendarua01
5 жыл бұрын
Or at least compensation. And while we're at it how about we rectify all the broken treaties left in our Manifest wake? Care to think about the intentional use of biological warfare in your spare time? You better be thankful the Native Americans don't go to the U.N.
@DeoMachina
5 жыл бұрын
A roadside bomb wrapped in a suicide vest? HUH?
@jackthibault1548
5 жыл бұрын
They’d probably do a better job with it than us. Social experiment- let’s do it
who else thought that thumbnail was a middle finger ?!
@christopheralexander6502
5 жыл бұрын
waelXcm it is
@jiggler080
4 жыл бұрын
Lol
This speech is part of a bigger discussion about how we as the inheritors of the colonial era should be reminded about our past. We should change how we see and approach musea. So often it is about objects of great wealth and not about idea's or viewpoints unique to the past or a culture. A museum could make the world look smaller instead of showing off our wealth and captured treasure's.
#Ted ..thanks for the knowledge.
thanks
Returning museum pieces on demand of tribes is understandable. Proactively returning pieces to tribes that may not care anymore is something else.
btw amazing as usual...
Beautiful
I see here mostly comments about treasures of an african country being captured and secured by a civilised european country. But about the WWII? There are still a lot of e.g. Polish treasures you can find in Germany. What about this stuff?
Stil can't understand what the photo in the thumbnail is
@thenikolas1999
5 жыл бұрын
A stick with a carved face on it and a bunch of, I assume, tribal artifacts nailed on it at the bottom.
@kaltontucson5827
10 ай бұрын
Zuni war god
This is great news.
I don't see why these things can't just be scanned and returned?
I love this stuff
Apparently their War Gods failed them.
@SaneAfrikan
5 жыл бұрын
mhtinla lol
@violet-trash
5 жыл бұрын
It's almost as though gods are created by primitive cultures to explain what they don't understand.
Things like the Native Americans I understand, but the Egyptian artifacts are from an ancient civilization who's culture no longer exists. It's from so long ago that that you have whites, blacks and middle eastern all arguing over who the true descendants are.
At 10:40, that place looks strangely similar to the vault at Museo Larco in Lima, Peru. Those vases look more Mochica than Zunni. I smell something weird here.
This guy’s delivery of speech is so overly dramatic, its almost cringe-worthy.
Turkce ceviri icin tesekkurler..
What if returning cultural artefacts would result in their destruction? For instance, the last remnants of the Bamiyan Buddhas would not likely survive if they were returned to Afghanistan
1:28 - coincidence theyre all missing their heads? This lie couldnt stand the test of time had their "black" features not have been destroyed. "Egypt was the place where Alexander the Great went. He was in shock to see moutains w black faces (spinx) So they shot off the nose to impose what basically still goes on today you see?" -Nas
Where does it end though
Hello
yeah, no these things belong in a museum.
Lol I random chose this ted talk and I’m from tucson
because apart from nobody knowing who _wilder_ is, they sure af dont know what _fury_ means when he keeps saying "lineal champion" you bunch of dossers.
> spiritual
Плохо! Нет Русских субтитров!
At first I thought the thumbnail was a robot hand flipping me off
some objects are safer on museum than in some countries
here under 50
I disagree strongly. Museums are the best place for preservation.
@sakuradeva555
5 жыл бұрын
Do you think other countries don't have museums?
@rn2787
5 жыл бұрын
That's because nobody is stealing your stuff. I am an archaeologist and let me tell you something there is no difference between me breaking into your house or your grandmother's grave and what they did. I never dug up stuff without permission from the descends of those people because it was the very least I could do. America has taken enough from those people and nobody has the right to take more. This is about respecting them and their rights as human beings for once. They deserve so much more than that, but at the very least you should respect their wishes, religion, and rights.
@tyalikanky
5 жыл бұрын
descendants can be related maybe for 3-5 generations, i don't think that's the case
@rn2787
5 жыл бұрын
No, you can be related to anyone who is in your family. I found the closest relatives or tribal members I could find. It really wasn't hard. Asking them for permission was really easy. Honestly not respecting people is much harder on me as a person than spending a few hours or days doing a little bit of research.
@tyalikanky
5 жыл бұрын
I mean what would you do if found some thing in Jerichon or some Çatalhöyük? Nations are changed. I don't think you must to ask if that people aren't close family and lived in same century.
You're Guy ... I encourage tour fight .
6:41 That has an easy answer: you know the old saying about the only good Indians?
I disagree with returning objects, they are part of all human history and should be treated as such, that means keeping them in good condition and preserving them for generations to come. That is best in western museums with stable political, social and economic conditions.
@acoustic5738
5 жыл бұрын
Selfish approach.
@michieldeprez4025
5 жыл бұрын
You are god damn right! Musea are way less receptable to change over generations. What if a culture changes and discards a sacred object. What if it get's destoyed during a storm or fire. How could a group of people guarantee that their artefact will remain preserved the next hundred years. They can't.
@user-et8vm9cc3t
5 жыл бұрын
Also, it helps spreading awareness and knowledge about the particular culture objects came from. An actually selfish approach would be for the original country to keep everything for itself.
@louislungbubble
5 жыл бұрын
@@acoustic5738 not really .its a logical approach , I hate banks but I still keep my money there and not in a shoe box under my bed.
@acoustic5738
5 жыл бұрын
@@louislungbubble would you keep that money in any bank...if it didnt belong to you?
Egypt: thousands of ancient objects plundered from major Museums in Cairo during political upheaval; Brazil: two major museus burnt on fire, due to deficient maintenance. Among the items destroyed forever, there was the oldest human fossil from Americas; Afghanistan: Ancient Buda statues bombed by taliban extremists as part of a State policy while they were ruling the Country; Iraq: thousands of artifacts looted from museums; Siria: human cultural heritage being destroyed at an incalculable rate; Go on, SJW! If you want to have all these objects destroyed, why dont just set a large balefire and throw them all inside. It's cheaper than returning them, and the results are the same!
Conservatives in one country fighting conservatives in another. While im sure they both imagine some other ideology being at fault here. Talk about culture of victimhood. It seems like the culturely sensitive people are just trying to bridge the gap rather then taking a big part in the battle.
I personally think he returned the "being" So he can keep the maintenance fee to himself. #Capitalism
@nancywagoner7351
5 жыл бұрын
Why should indigenous peoples have to repay preservation costs for items that were stolen? If someone stole your car, and the thief spent a lot money to preserve your car, would you repay his costs to get your stolen car back?
@jervislin5561
5 жыл бұрын
Nancy Wagoner I see ur point but i never say they wanted the fee. Here a scenario of what I think what actually happen. Let say the person stole the item doesn't vale it anyone. Do you think he or she will continue to spent money maintaining it, no right he or she will most likely dispose it. Therefore disposing mean returning that item back.
Here before 100
France give Italy La Gioconda back then, it belongs to us, you stole it
So they can be lost forever, like the fires in Brazil :)
ok, let`s say they want to get their cultural objective back for their own reasons, then pay back the money invested to find that object, i mean, that is fair. Let`s see how many will pay for them then.
@brendarua01
5 жыл бұрын
Interesting idea.
@michaelpark6417
5 жыл бұрын
Most of these artifacts were found by individuals or funded by colleges or other organizations not government funding and since many of them are donated why should they pay them if they themselves got it for free
Hey lets return the stuff from the museum so it can end up in private collections or worse.
Or, well, they can always make new ones.
Why can't the natives willing to donate wood carving solely for education purposes? or make a wood carving to trade for the old one?
@cyber-bully5063
4 жыл бұрын
Many of those wood carvings hold deep religious and cultural value, trading some of these objects for profit is some cases is considered worse than selling an engagement ring in our culture.
It's my culture to steal from other cultures. Can I have my stuff back?
Chip, you said you have a one-million year old spear point. Sorry to tell you, according to new science, the earth is only about 6-7,000 years old.
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5 жыл бұрын
11&12
Humans land space ships on Mars and you’re talking about a stone ax. a painting I respect the past but the future is so much more relevant
@user-et8vm9cc3t
5 жыл бұрын
What are you going to build the future on then ? If not on the past and present ?
@iron60bitch62
5 жыл бұрын
Христо Мартунков, граф Лозенски true Parts from all will be used
@user-et8vm9cc3t
5 жыл бұрын
@@iron60bitch62 "Parts from all." Bits and pieces, yeah... Sounds so random. But even in this cas, you still anknowledge that the past is somewhat important.
Only reason I'm here is bc thumbnail is flipping me off
This is not thought provoking, it's obvious,
@jaredknight8838
5 жыл бұрын
Not for some of the idiots in this comment section, clearly.
@bobmiller3627
5 жыл бұрын
Well, what's obvious to you or me might be outrageous to other folks. I remember a few years ago in my neck of the woods, some local university had uncovered an 8,000 year old Native American skull, and the local tribe instantly demanded that it be given back. "Let someone at least take a fucking DNA sample from the thing before we bury it back in the Earth forever," I thought. Which the university did in the end, but not before being sued by the tribe, who won their case and eventually got the skull back. Frankly, if you could have somehow described to the neolithic man that the skull belonged to that his existence and his bloodline would be remembered for all time to come by both his descendants and everyone else in the world, my guess is that he would have been pretty fucking thrilled by that prospect. Most indigenous peoples in history practiced one form or another of ancestor worship, and what's more "ancestor worshipy" than have a high-resolution DNA sample with a hard timestamp that will never be forgotten as long as humanity continues to exists?
Utter nonsense. A thing is a thing, not a being.
Why take what's not yours in the first place... huh Americans?
What is a curator to do? Their job.