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Digital Heritage Surrogates, Decolonization, and International Law: Restitution, Control, and the Creation of Value as Reparations and Emancipation

Publication date: 2020

Santander Art and Culture Law Review, 2020, 2/2020 (6), pp. 65-86

https://doi.org/10.4467/2450050XSNR.20.011.13014

Authors

Lucas Lixinski
Faculty of Law and Justice, University of New South Wales
Sydney NSW 2052 Australia, Australia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5218-4636 Orcid
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Titles

Digital Heritage Surrogates, Decolonization, and International Law: Restitution, Control, and the Creation of Value as Reparations and Emancipation

Abstract

This article argues that digital and post-colonial engagements with heritage can be reconciled only if they happen in the terms set by the once-colonized community, and for their benefit. Further, the law can play a significant role in embedding certain ethical commitments, provided it can steer away from legal categories such as authenticity and access; categories which, despite their neutral or even cosmopolitan aspirations, function as reinforcers of a status quo that privileges colonial possession of heritage. In order to pursue this thesis, the article focuses on the ways in which the digitization of heritage was suggested – in the context of the Sarr-Savoy Report about the return of objects from French museums to certain African countries – to constitute a precondition for the return of cultural objects taken during colonialism. Drawing on that report, as well as on the responses to it, the article queries whether and how digitization can work to redress (or unfortunately, in some cases reinforce) the harms of colonialism.

References

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Information

Information: Santander Art and Culture Law Review, 2020, 2/2020 (6), pp. 65-86

Article type: Original article

Authors

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5218-4636

Lucas Lixinski
Faculty of Law and Justice, University of New South Wales
Sydney NSW 2052 Australia, Australia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5218-4636 Orcid
Contact with author
All publications →

Faculty of Law and Justice, University of New South Wales
Sydney NSW 2052 Australia, Australia

Published at: 2020

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND  licence icon

Percentage share of authors:

Lucas Lixinski (Author) - 100%

Article corrections:

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Publication languages:

English

Digital Heritage Surrogates, Decolonization, and International Law: Restitution, Control, and the Creation of Value as Reparations and Emancipation

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