shades fills you in

In August, a London museum announced it was returning 12 Benin Bronzes, plus other artifacts, to Nigeria. England looted the artifacts in the 17th century, and Nigeria has long asked for them back. For a long while, museums said no. But it looks like the tides may be turning -- ArtNews

There’s less hope in the case of the Parthenon. Greece and the UK have been arguing over the marble statues at the British Museum for forever. The National Herald, for one, is sick of the Brits dragging their feet, but admits the law would have to change first

So, should this art be returned? CrimeReads says it’s super complicated and practically difficult. Morally, you should give art back, but -- who gets to make a claim? How far back do you go? How do you balance individual/national rights with public interest?

There may even be practical issues within museums! WaPo reports the Smithsonian is having its own reckoning -- for example, it’s trying to return certain collections. But it’s a massive institution with different rules across different departments and different types of art

The BBC explains how hard it’s been to return the art the Nazis stole from Jewish collections and museums. People have been trying to find and return them for years. This has been much harder because they’re scattered across the globe, and the practical and legal issues are really complex -- BBC

Back in 2009, this Guardian writer said returning Nazi-looted art was a terrible idea. It’s “meaningless” at best, and at worst, it destroys museums and robs the public of that art and its history

This Medium writer is also anti. He says Britain shouldn’t give looted artifacts back to countries like India and Egypt because those countries can’t take proper care of them -- the UK will do a better job

But this archeologist writing in The Conversation Magazine says that’s a crap excuse. Stolen art should be returned, period. If that means Europe has to invest in African museums, so be it! It’s a price they should pay

Hold up, says The Atlantic -- it’s actually a lot more complicated than that. For example, in Nigeria, there are a lot of stakeholders and different claimants to the Benin Bronzes. You can’t just “give it back”

In a similar vein, African art experts tell The Conversation that African museums shouldn’t be the end point for these objects -- many should be returned to “descendant communities”

But Foreign Policy Magazine thinks it’s high time European museums return art to Africa. They’ve been stonewalling requests for decades, but there’s just no excuse -- they’re hoarding stolen treasures because of greed

This Deutsche Welle Op says this issue raises far more than art alone. The West has stolen so much from Africa, and continues to do so. These arguments over art are just the first step to reckoning with our colonial history