Mainstreaming the Discourse on Restitution and Repatriation within African History, Heritage Studies and Political Science

Abstract

The recent upsurge of interest in restitution and repatriation debates by
practitioners and scholars might offer appropriate chances for true interdisciplinary
research. Not only should historical, anthropological and legal studies take part in
such a conversation, but also, political science, archaeology and heritage studies.
Resolutely and systematically giving voice to both African stakeholders and African
researchers is an imperative. In this introduction, the fresh start of a rich debate is
traced, providing the framework for processing and understanding current debates
and practices of restitution. Essential and neglected questions are formulated.
Detected voids call for the mainstreaming of a new discourse on restitution and
repatriation to play a pivotal role in the epistemology of these allied disciplines
and training.