Is a New Zeland Maori warriors head a Body Part, or Art?
Since 1875, the mummified, tattooed head of a Maori warrior has been part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Natural History at Rouen in Normandy. But when Rouen’s mayor arranged recently to return it to New Zealand as an act of “atonement” for colonial-era trafficking in human remains, the national Ministry of Culture stepped in to block him. The ministry contends that the head is a work of art that belongs to France and that its return could set an unfortunate precedent for a huge swath of the national museum collections — from Egyptian mummies in the Louvre to Asian treasures in the Musée Guimet and African and Oceanic artifacts in the Musée du Quai Branly.
So what do you think? Would you like for your ancestors body parts to be put on public display in some other countries museum?
OK kbeverid and Brother Ranulf I understand your points, but what about this comment made by Ms. Morin-Desailly, the deputy mayor?
She cites an important precedent in France concerning the return of human remains: those of Saartjie Baartman — the “Hottentot Venus” as she was pejoratively labeled in her day. A farmer’s slave born in 1789, she was sold to a British Marine surgeon and presented in public in London and later in Paris as a freak because of her oversized buttocks and genitalia.
After she died, her remains were displayed at the now-defunct Musée de l’Homme until 1976, and then kept in storage. In 2002, after years of resisting, France sent her remains home to South Africa.
OK so now kidlove’s artical makes it even an even worse reason to keep relics and body parts! Now we have got "murder" in our quest for "Education" as a reason for keeping all human remains of our past in the name or guise of Artifacts of our ancestors histories past lives and cultures. If we make a thing valuable people will KILL for it! When is enough enough?
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I would not like this at all. it should be buried.
January 26th, 2010 at 9:24 amI don’t think museums should return those types of "artifacts". The most basic purpose of a museum is to educate the public. If every museum gave back their artifacts, how would they effectively accomplish this. I would hope that cultures that have their historical artifacts on display throughout the world take pride in the knowledge that millions of people can learn about their past and hopefully gain a better respect for their culture. Most of the current governments of the world are not the same governing bodies as when those artifact were created, so why would they "lay claim" to them?
I would personally be honored if my remains were displayed in the far future to educate people about my way of life and my culture.
January 26th, 2010 at 9:24 amThe British Museum has started a policy of returning certain ethnic artefacts (not just body parts) to their respective cultures; the body of a Sioux Indian named Long Wolf was taken from a London cemetery and returned to his relatives in the 1990s. Britain is taking the lead in this kind of repatriation.
The question is not really whether it’s anatomy or art, the real question is whether anything should ever be put into museums. Your comments would imply that you think it wrong for Neanderthal skulls to be kept in a museum and studied by scientists, or for Egyptian mummies to be displayed, x-rayed, the mummification process revealed and published.
It is entirely right for each country’s government to decide its own policy on this – but without physical remains to study, there can be no archaeology, anthropology, history or paleography.
January 26th, 2010 at 9:24 amFor the purpose of education? Please read below. It is a part of a BBC news article. If there could be any purpose of education, it should be an education for the warning from the shameful imperialism and anti-humanism.
"The arrival of Europeans in New Zealand sparked a trade in which the mummified heads would be exchanged for valuable goods. According to Rouen museum officials quoted by the AP news agency, such was the demand for the heads that some Maori men were killed simply for their tattoos."
January 26th, 2010 at 9:24 am