*Location changed to B uchanan B Penthouse*
As Europe contends with how it will be constituted in the future\, a rec urring challenge has been how Europe engages\, in this instance particularl y in relation to Africa\, in processes of reparation in the aftermath of co lonial histories that shape the present.
This has been p rominent in the conversations around museums and restitution\, especially a fter the Sarr-Savoy report of 2018 on African art and belongings in Europea n cultural institutions. I propose in this discussion a consideration of re stitution that reckons with the kinds of inconvenient demands\, not just fo r the return of material culture\, but for a planetary reorientation when r estitution is considered as shared process and labour\, rather than primari ly a question of return. In this sense then\, I ask whether cultural restit ution can be considered a necessary\, if insufficient\, part of reshaping t he (colonial) foundations on which European identity and power have been bu ilt\, and in a rapidly shifting world\, whether restitution is an opportuni ty to rebuild different relations\, and steer global cultural (and conseque ntly socio-economic and political) relations in a different direction. In t he face of contemporary transatlantic relations\, it is also important to c onsider what this conception of restitution might offer in the current Afri ca-Canada-Europe nexus\, if anything.
This talk is part of the CE S Spring 2026 Colloquium Series. The series features UBC CES affiliate facu lty currently working on issues related to Europe and the languages spoken there.
This event is hybrid. Those who wish to attend online can register for the Zoom link below.
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D r. Lennon Mhishi's work\, animated by African life-worlds\, thinks acro ss museums and colonial collections\, migration and diaspora as well as con temporary art practice\, as part of broader practices of engaging questions of mobility\, creative practice and the afterlives of slavery and colonial ism- as well as the shared struggles for building other knowledges and ways of relating-being in the world
CATEGORIES:Featured Homepage,Featured Program,Featured Research LOCATION:Buchanan B Penthouse GEO:49.268108;-123.254723 URL;VALUE=URI:https://ces.ubc.ca/events/event/restitution_as_process/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ces.cms.arts.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/70/2026/01/Mhishi-Colloquium-feat.-image.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Vancouver BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 DTSTART:20251102T090000 TZNAME:PST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR