Current challenges for African cultural heritage: a case study of Guinea-Bissau

Abstract

The restitution of cultural heritage to countries of origin has occupied the recent international political agenda. This article analyses the different perspectives from which this question has been approached, in Portugal and abroad, namely in the legislative field governing heritage institutions, in the academic field and in the public sphere. This analysis aims to understand the current meanings attributed to African heritage in museums and other Western heritage institutions, as well as in the countries of origin. As a case study it presents the heritage reality of Guinea-Bissau and indicates different possibilities for a fair representation of today’s diasporic communities, aiming to contribute to an informed debate on the impact of the return and relocation of African heritage to their countries of origin on future representations of African culture and identity on a global scale.

Keywords

• postcolonialism
• cultural policies and museums
• restitution of cultural property
• National Ethnographic Museum of Guinea-Bissau
• provenance research