WeeklySA_AdminPILLAGE: American museum and university return to Ghana precious gold artefacts stolen by British soldiers in 1874 during the Anglo-Asante wars…
By Kim Thurler
Newswise — Two years ago, Professor of Music, Kwasi Ampene, received an out-of-the blue email from the curator of African art at UCLA’s Fowler Museum. Would Ampene, a renowned expert on the music and culture of the Asante kingdom of West Africa, help the museum return to the kingdom antiquities stolen by the British during the 19th-century Anglo-Asante wars?
The seven looted objects included gold decorations for the ankles, arms, and neck, a gold-embellished elephant tail whisk, and a chair of wood and leather with metallic decorations. Years of research and his own Ghanaian heritage had given Ampene a deep understanding of the importance of such objects in what he terms the “history, heart, and soul” of the Asante.
Nevertheless, he approached with care. “Given the historical dimension and emotions surrounding violence and pillage associated with European colonisation in Africa, I was initially cautious and measured in my response,” says Ampene. “I told myself, ‘This could be something or it could be nothing.’”
His review of documents and in-person examination of the items at the Fowler Museum convinced Ampene that this was indeed something. The objects were exquisitely crafted, likely by royal artisans, and their history was well-documented. British soldiers had stolen some of the artefacts in 1874 during the ransacking of the palace in Kumase, the kingdom’s ancient capital.
Others were among the 50 000 ounces of gold demanded by the British government in the treaty ending the wars. The Fowler Museum and University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) were fully committed to returning all the precious artefacts to the kingdom, no strings attached.
Ampene agreed to assist. To begin the complex repatriation process, in June 2023, he met with the kingdom’s ruler, or Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, at the Manhyia Palace in Kumase, and shortly thereafter he arranged a meeting at the palace for Fowler Museum representatives.
Years before Ampene had forged a relationship with the king and his staff when he was researching the work of Nana Afua Abasa, a singer and composer of Nnwonkoro songs, who frequently performed at the palace before her death in 2000. Ampene returns each summer to study the palace’s thousands of antiquities and update the king and his staff on his findings.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II confirmed Ampene’s conclusions regarding the artefacts’ authenticity and history. He also said that their timely return would be ideal since it would coincide with an event already planned for February this year, to commemorate the battle in which the palace was demolished.
That was only seven months away from February. It was a tight timeframe to complete the complexities of de-accession and repatriation of the artefacts, a process that would eventually involve United States and Ghanaian government agencies as well as the kingdom, museum, UCLA, and the university’s Board of Regents.
Ultimately, one of the biggest challenges was obtaining clearance to export the elephant tail whisk, because of the strict restrictions on trade in elephant objects.
“That took forever,” says Ampene. Permission came through just a couple of days before the artifacts, packed in special protective cases, were to be flown from Los Angeles to Accra, the capital of Ghana. This was “very, very, very, very” nerve-wracking, Ampene recalls.
Packed in special protective crates, the artefacts arrived safely in Accra on February 1. They were kept in a secret location for several days before making the 156-mile drive to Kumase under the protection of armed security.
On Monday, February 5, at a private meeting in the palace, the cases were opened, and the artefacts were presented to the king and his staff. The mood was one of joy and mutual respect, Ampene recalls.
At the meeting’s conclusion, Ampene felt a huge wave of relief. “I hadn’t slept that whole weekend,” he says. “The first thing I did afterwards was drink a glass of wine.”
The day-long commemoration that followed on February 8 was marked by music, dancing, and singing, with every detail, from clothing to umbrellas to swords encased in gold, contributing to telling the Asante kingdom’s proud story. The 5 000 guests gathered on the palace grounds included chiefs of other kingdoms, the current vice-president of Ghana and two past presidents, and diplomats.
The artefacts recently returned by the Fowler Museum will be shown in the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumase. However, Ampene believes that museums should not be a prerequisite for repatriation of stolen antiquities.
“These items are part of our culture and our identity. They have practical uses for us, they have spiritual uses, they reinforce our traditional political systems, our philosophy, our literature. We know what to do with them,” he says. “They don’t need to be in a museum. When we bring them out at a festival, that’s our museum in motion.”
The tradition of interconnectedness that characterises the arts in Africa permeates Ampene’s scholarship and his journey as an ethnomusicologist. “Music is part of a constellation of the arts. Drama, poetry, visual arts, all come together in a single organic whole,” he says.
This perspective resonates among his students, says Ampene, who chairs the music department in the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts and currently teaches a course on the musical arts of Africa.
The artefacts’ return played out against an intense and widening global conversation about return of treasures stolen by colonising powers. Just a few weeks earlier, London’s Victoria & Albert Museum and the British Museum had said they would “loan” back to the Asante kingdom some artefacts stolen during colonisation. That approach is abhorrent to Ampene.
“We must not reward theft,” he says. “In contrast, UCLA showed the whole world what can and should be done. We now have a model to do it the right way.” – Source: Tufts Now
Comment
POLICE HAVE THE RIGHT TO PROTECT THEMSELVES
Members of the South African Police Services are always under fire for the escalating levels of serious crimes that are committed throughout the country almost every minute by ruthless gangsters who have now turned South Africa into one of the most unsafest cities in the world.
What is more disturbing however is that the police, who are expected to protect local communities are now themselves targets of these thugs who have shown total disregard of our law enforcement agencies, are always heavily armed and ready to kill those who dare stood in their way.
Criminal syndicates across the country have now intensified their reign of terror daring the police and acting with impunity to commit criminal acts including murder, robbery and rape leaving the police with no alternative but to fight fire with fire.
It came as no surprise when the police – acting on a tip-off – surprised a gang of dangerous criminals at Desai in Mariannhill outside Durban last week where they shot and killed nine suspects. The gang, which had been accused of a string of murders, rapes and robberies, had allegedly opened fire on the police when they realized they had been cornered. Two of the gang members managed to escape.
In another separate incident, five suspected gangsters were killed in a shoot-out with the police during a foiled cash-in-transit heist at Emalahleni in Mpumalanga. Police confiscated five rifles and two handguns.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) is investigating both incidents to establish if the police acted lawfully in the shooting and killing of these suspected gangsters.
There has since been mixed reactions regarding the police action with some people, especially relatives of those killed, accusing the men and women in blue of high -handedness. Police Minister Bheki Cele was adamant that their action was lawful. The Mariannhill community heaved a sigh of relief and lauded the police for coming to their rescue after being subjected to a reign of terror for years allegedly at the hands of these gangsters .
It is ironic that the police should be blamed for defending themselves against thugs who care less about the lives of those whose duty it is to protect their communities. Those who criticize the police for their actions are reminded that nearly 25 police officers were killed by criminals in South Africa in the past three months. About 80 police officers were attacked and ambushed while on and off duty by gangsters between July and September last year. These are shocking statistics.
Police officers are also human beings and family members who have a right to life. Nobody has a right to kill them for simply doing their job.
We urge the police to remain resolute and continue with their duties and not to hesitate to protect themselves at all times against these criminals who want to render the country ungovernable.
