Returning Southeast Asia's Past: Objects, Museums, and Restitution (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9789813251243)

For the past century and a half, extensive looting and illicit trafficking of Southeast Asia's cultural heritage have scattered art objects from the region to museums and private collections around the world. Today, however, power relations are shifting, a new awareness is growing, and new questions are emerging about the representation and ownership of Southeast Asian cultural material located in the West. This book offers a timely consideration of object restitution and related issues across Southeast Asia, bringing together a range of viewpoints, including those of museum professionals and scholars in Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia, as well as Europe, North America, and Australia. The contributors address legal, cultural, political and diplomatic issues involved in the restitution process, and they also look at the ways object restitution is integral to evolving narratives of national identity. Ultimately, the book's editors conclude, restitution processes can transform narratives of loss into opportunities for gain, building knowledge and reconstructing relationships across national borders.


Author: Louise Tythacott
ISBN-10: 9813251247
ISBN-13: 9789813251243
Publisher: National University of Singapore Press
Language: English
Published: 04/30/2021
Pages: 304
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 2.25lbs
Size: 7.40h x 9.30w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 02/01/2022