Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #beninbronzes

Most recents (10)

BIG NEWS Provisions in a recently passed UK law coming into force this autumn could have a major impact on the ability of UK national museums to remove items from their collections and return them to their country or community of origin…. 🧵 (1/10)
As many know, almost all national museums in the UK are governed by statute, many of which include restrictions on the ability of their trustees to remove items from the collection… (2/10)
Even though these museums are charities, it had been found by the High Court (in 2005) that restrictions in the British Museum Act 1963 superseded any possibility of returning items under charity law. However…. (3/10)
Read 11 tweets
A short thread about imperial attitudes and how Africa was carved up by European occupiers… 🧐🧵 #BritishEmpire #history #Africa
I’ve tweeted before about Major Sir Claude MacDonald (pic above)… He’s one of the main figures in my new book BLOOD AND BRONZE because he led the initial formal British occupation of what is now southern Nigeria. #BeninBronzes #history @HurstPublishers

hurstpublishers.com/book/blood-and…
I regard MacDonald as a cut above the average imperial official, but nonetheless he was guilty of some horrendous acts, which have been largely obscured or forgotten in the archives. ⬇️😖 #Nigeria #BritishEmpire #history #ColonialViolence
Read 19 tweets
Today marked a significant milestone: @JesusCollegeCam handed over the Benin Bronze in its possession to representatives from #Nigeria. Well done to Jesus College. There is simply no excuse for anyone else keeping stolen property. 🙏🇳🇬 #BeninBronzes

reuters.com/world/uk/cambr…
I’ve just written an account of the brutal 1897 British Invasion of the Kingdom of Benin, based largely on new archive research:

@HurstPublishers #BeninBronzes 🇳🇬

hurstpublishers.com/book/blood-and…
Happily, @OUPAcademic will distribute #BloodAndBronze in North America:

global.oup.com/academic/produ…
Read 6 tweets
Twitter pronouncements by @JimMFelton are incorporated directly into English common law, right? ⬇️😋 In that case, I’m legally obliged to plug the bejeesus out of my forthcoming book… 🤪👩🏼‍⚖️📔 #history #books @HurstPublishers #BeninBronzes
It’s called “Blood and Bronze” and tells the true story of the 1897 British invasion and destruction of the Kingdom of Benin, when the famous Bronzes were plundered… Empire loons like @NigelBiggar will absolutely *hate* it… 😃 #history #BritishEmpire

hurstpublishers.com/book/blood-and…
Blood and Bronze will be out on December 9th, and please sign up with my publisher @HurstPublishers for their New Book Alerts… 🤓👍📚 #books #history #BlackHistoryMonth

hurstpublishers.com
Read 6 tweets
@PriyamvadaGopal Hello Professor, thanks for your kind words about my forthcoming book, much appreciated! ☺️👍📔 #history #BeninBronzes #repatriation #reparations @HurstPublishers #books 🌳🍁🍂

hurstpublishers.com/book/blood-and…
If anyone would like to know more, please sign up with @HurstPublishers for their New Book Alerts… ⬇️🤓📚 #books #history #BookTwitter

hurstpublishers.com
All pre-orders make a *massive* difference to independent authors, so please consider using @hivestores to place an advance order… 🙂⬇️ #books #history #BookTwitter 🌳📚🍂🍁

hive.co.uk
Read 5 tweets
UGI'ODODUA. (UGIE ODODUA)

In old Benin, ugi’ododua was celebrated in the month of the Ẹdo lunar year, which corresponds to mid-March and early April of the Gregorian calendar.
@asemota @EdoSocials @0vienrioba @OyomwanO
#Thread #BeninBronzes #Benin
The ceremony was initially instituted by Ọmọ N’Ọba Ẹweka I in memory of his grandfather Ekaladerhan or Izoduwa. In the 16th century, Ọmọ N’Ọba Ẹsigie, added some rituals, probably Christian fasting rites, to the ceremony, then, in the 18th century,
Ọmọ N’Ọba Eresoyen further modified the festivity by adding other rites. Furthermore, he replaced the original masks worn by the Ododua masquerades, with brass ones modelled after the masks worn by the masquerades of Ọsa N'Uzalla, the deified hero of the people of Uzalla,
Read 18 tweets
Do you really know the story of the #BeninBronzes? Dan Hicks, whose new book I reviewed for @LAReviewofBooks, thinks museums have mythologized the story of the Punitive Expedition to conceal the ongoing violence of displaying the works: blog.lareviewofbooks.org/reviews/museum… (thread)
Hicks unearths the violent history of how approximately 10,000 objects were taken from Benin City, in what is now Nigeria, in the aftermath of an 1897 British Navy Punitive Expedition: plutobooks.com/9781786806840/…
These artifacts, made over the course of 500 years, now in museums and private collections across the world, include many cast metal plaques and other sculptures, and so are known as the #BeninBronzes: weltmuseumwien.at/en/onlinecolle…
Read 45 tweets
Faut-il acheter de l'art pillé par des colonisateurs dans une ville africaine brûlée? J'ai écrit sur l'un des #BeninBronzes, qui sera vendu par @ChristiesInc Paris le lundi: hyperallergic.com/573457/fishy-p… @FrancoisF24 @EyeOnAfricaF24 @arianamozafari @DDesobeau
Exactement comme les statues qui glorifient les propriétaires d'esclaves, ce poisson représente un passé d'oppression violente. Image
En 1897, le souverain du Bénin, l'Oba, a imposé un embargo sur l'exportation des produits de l'huile de palme vers le territoire sous contrôle britannique. Les commerçants britanniques se sont plaints et le consul général du Niger Coast Protectorate voisin s'est rendu au Bénin.
Read 9 tweets
How can we buy art looted by colonizers from a burnt African city? I wrote about one of the #BeninBronzes, which will be auctioned by @ChristiesInc on Monday: hyperallergic.com/573457/fishy-p… (@hyperallergic @hragv)
Like the statues of slave-owners now being protested around the world, this fish — which will be auctioned by Christie’s auction house in Paris next week — represents a past of violent oppression.
In 1897, Benin's ruler, the Oba, dared impose an embargo on exporting palm-oil products into British-controlled territory. British traders complained, and James Robert Phillips, the Acting Consul-General of the neighboring Niger Coast Protectorate, advanced into Benin.
Read 21 tweets
The Director of the #BritishMuseum Hartwig Fischer has issued a statement that the British Museum "stands in solidarity with the Black community throughout the world." #BlackLivesMatter." That is to be applauded. blog.britishmuseum.org/a-message-from… via @britishmuseum 1/4 Image
However, the #BritishMuseum has never apologised for its shameful part in the British Army's brutal conquest and looting of rare Ethiopian artefacts at the Battle of Maqdala in 1868, in a clear case of officially sanctioned plunder and murder 2/4 Image
Or its part in acquiring the looted #BeninBronzes, some of Africa’s greatest treasures, after a British punitive military expedition in 1897, and maintaining to this day that they were lawfully 'purchased' and will not be returned. 3/4 Image
Read 5 tweets

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