Loot, legacy, and legitimacy: How museums confront their colonial-era acquisitions

• In Event: Critical Perspectives on Coloniality and Carcerality

Abstract

Museums have long been entangled in the ethical and legal complexities of cultural heritage acquisition, often holding objects obtained through now-condemned practices. While repatriation debates typically focus on former imperial powers, colonial-era collecting extended beyond direct colonizers. This paper explores Norway’s involvement, positioning museum acquisitions within debates on cultural heritage crime, colonial legacies, and museum ethics, while considering how perspectives from critical criminology might offer further insight. Despite lacking a colonial empire, Norway acquired looted artifacts such as the Benin Bronzes through trade and donations. Using archival materials from the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo—including letters, catalogues, and journal entries—this study examines how these acquisitions were conducted and justified, the extent to which ethical concerns were raised, and what these discussions reveal about contemporary views on cultural ownership. Museums have benefited from colonial-era practices that, while not criminal, caused lasting harm. Insights from green criminology may help frame these harms, illustrating how weak regulations and ethical grey areas—much like in environmental exploitation—enabled cultural exploitation. These same gaps persist today, shaping restitution debates and influencing whose claims to heritage are recognized and whose are dismissed.

Author

• Siv Rebekka Runhovde, University of Oslo