“Demuseumification” and the Return of Cultural Objects

MACCH affiliated researcher Donna Yates, Associate Professor in Criminal Law and Criminology in the Faculty of Law at Maastricht University, recently spoke at a digital conference organised by the Palais de Rumine in Lausanne called “Global Provenance” in an event called “Returning: from Causes to Consequences”.

Using the return of an ancient Bolivian statuette from Bern as a discussion point, Yates and co-speaker Pierre Losson consider how “demuseumification” can subvert the expectation that a returned object remains in the realm of museums to acquire new societal and cultural functions. The short video that accompanied the presentation “Demuseumification” and the return of Cultural Objects” is available here. The full event and all videos including discussion are available here.

For more information about research projects conducted by Donna Yates, please visit: https://traffickingtransformations.org/about/.