Recuperando lo nuestro: why have Latin American states sought the return of cultural heritage objects since the late 20th century?

• In Event: Heritage discourses: from nation-building to nation-branding?

Abstract

Since the 1980s, several Latin American states have sought the return of cultural heritage objects displaced before the implementation of international conventions on the topic, such as UNESCO 1970. These objects (Montezuma’s headdress, the Quimbaya treasure, or the Machu Picchu collection, among many others) were displaced in colonial times or in the early post-colonial period, when the state was expanding its authority over its territory, had not yet passed laws protecting heritage, or did not have the means to enforce them. Archaeology as a science was introduced in the region in the early 20th century, and states throughout the region have used material heritage to construct their nation since at least the mid-19th century. Why then has the movement to claim the return of cultural heritage objects appeared only in the last decades of the 20th century? Examining cases from Mexico, Peru, and Colombia, this paper proposes a historical-institutionalist lecture of this question, from a double perspective: that of states whose role as producers of national identity is threatened by profound social, economic, and political changes (including internal armed conflicts, migrations, and neoliberal reforms); and the progressive institutionalization of material heritage management, a path-dependent process leading to the establishment of legal norms and professional practices, culminating in the formulation of claims for the return of cultural heritage objects. These claims appear as a tentative, on the eve of the celebrations of the bicentenary of these states’ independence, to reaffirm the roots of the nation in the long, pre-Columbian past.

Author

• Pierre Losson, The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY)