Oxford University restores Maasai artefacts
Men with spears come to the dreaming spires
IN THE OAK-PANELLED Bookbinders Ale House, a group of Maasai tribespeople gathers the day before returning to Tanzania and Kenya, to sip cappuccinos and bitter and to chew over the results of a two-week visit to Oxford. Despite the vile February weather, they are satisfied with their trip, for they are closer to getting back sacred objects that are held by Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum.
Former colonial powers have tended to take a defensive attitude to requests from formerly subject peoples for the return of objects that may have been stolen. In Britain, France and elsewhere, laws prevent museums from letting stuff go.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline "Spears and spires"
Britain February 15th 2020
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- Oxford University restores Maasai artefacts
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- Why Britain’s public conveniences are anything but
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