Beyond the Material: A Case Study of the Yaawo Beaded Hair Combs for Repatriating Agency

Abstract

Yaawo beadwork culture has a significant presence in the archives of the British Museum. So far, object biographies of John Moir’s collection of Yaawo beaded hair combs at the British Museum indicate they were acquired through ‘consensual’ commercial dealings. By approaching the complexity of cultural repatriation in praxis, this article aims to explore the following: How should we think of seemingly ‘consensual’ commercial transactions between colonisers and the colonised in the context of cultural repatriation? In what ways can the socio-philosophical boundaries of ‘return’ be expanded in these cases? This research is further proof that early colonial era trade relations are embedded in ethically ambiguous terms of negotiations that cannot always be clearly judged from a contemporary perspective.
Cultural objects acquired in this manner face multiple legal constraints when they are discussed in relation to cultural repatriation. Lastly, the article calls for expanding cultural repatriation beyond the materiality of cultural objects, with a redirection towards cultural agency