Return of Severed Head Revives Gruesome Colonial Past

The Dutch returned the disembodied head of a Ghana king, reviving memories of a grisly colonial past.

[Adam]

Seriously, what kind of people keep body parts of their enemies? It was not that uncommon during the imperialist period though. Andrew Jackson had a collection of scalps and ears he had taken.

[Anita]

I can see the reasoning behind during those times (war spoils and whatnot), but nowadays countries should make an effort to return them to their rightful owners, who value in a much more profound way.

[Sam]

I can see why Ghanaians were upset. I mean if in your religion dictates that your leader won't find eternal rest with his people unless you have his whole body and someone took off with his head...well. That's kind of a big deal.

[Mike]

What were the Dutch doing with it this whole time?

[Sara]

This article is well-written.

Why would the Greeks build a museum for (in-part) a piece of art that they didn't have? Wouldn't it have been a better idea to, um, you know, actually get the piece in their possession first? Not blaming the victim here, it obviously doesn't excuse the Brits and their colonialism and theft. But still.

[Nathaniel]

Sara wrote:

This article is well-written.
Why would the Greeks build a museum for (in-part) a piece of art that they didn't have? Wouldn't it have been a better idea to, um, you know, actually get the piece in their possession first? Not blaming the victim here, it obviously doesn't excuse the Brits and their colonialism and theft. But still.

True. But the Brits had argued that the Greeks simply couldn't be trusted with the marbles, partly because they didn't have the facilities to house them. So the Greeks built a museum, and proved that they weren't children, and that the Brits were full of it.

[Sara]

Nathaniel wrote:

<quoted text>
True. But the Brits had argued that the Greeks simply couldn't be trusted with the marbles, partly because they didn't have the facilities to house them. So the Greeks built a museum, and proved that they weren't children, and that the Brits were full of it.

Aha. My mistake - thanks for this.

[Eugenicist]

When are the indigenous peoples of Africa, Oceania, etal., going to return the remains of the Europeans they killed?

Oh, right, silly me: They ate them.

[Janet]

And I get irritated when people don't return books that I lend them. A severed head is quite a different matter.