Blog Post #3

When it comes to the conversation of returning artifacts from their motherland, most often you see two sides going at it. And like the saying goes, “No matter how flat you make a pancake, it’s still got two sides.” P. McGraw. You can relate this quote to this ongoing debate about where or who should keep the artifacts. One side says that they should keep the artifacts and the other side says that the artifacts should be returned where they originally came from. On this one I take the second side, I believe that the artifacts should be returned where they came from. In a report by Carlie Porterfield , in 2017-2018, French President Emmanuel Macron promised to return African artifacts held in France. In the report Macron says “I cannot accept that a large part of cultural heritage from several African countries is in France.”

France has over 90,000 pieces of artifacts from Africa. In a YouTube video from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, the French President Macron wants to make arrangements to return these artifacts where they belong. Most people agree with President Macron but Didier Rykner managing director at La Tribune L’Art’ says that these artifacts have been in France for so long and they have became part of their culture. In the same video Mr. Rykner says that, France did Africa a big favor by stealing these artifacts because Africans didn’t know what do with them. He goes on to say that Europe sees this as art but in Africa “It was meant to disappear.”

I believe that just like any other artifacts out of position, these African artifacts should be returned to Africa where they belong. Any person out there trying to fight this, their fighting a fight that they can’t or shouldn’t win. These artifacts were made in Africa for Africans to show to the world but now it’s made in Africa for Europeans to show to the rest of the world. Africans should not have to pay thousands of dollars to fly to Europe to learn about their heritage.