Dan Hicks in Conversation with Errol Francis (11 November 2021)

Dan Hicks discusses his book THE BRUTISH MUSEUMS with Errol Francis as part of the Knowledge is Power programme at BSix College, recorded live on 21 November 2021.  Walk into any Western museum today and you will see the curated spoils of Empire. They sit behind plate glass: dignified, tastefully lit. Accompanying pieces of card offer a name, date and place of origin. They do not mention that the objects are all stolen. Few artefacts embody this history of rapacious and extractive colonialism better than the Benin Bronzes – a collection of thousands of metal plaques and sculptures depicting the history of the Royal Court of the Obas of Benin City, Nigeria. Pillaged during a British naval attack in 1897, the loot was passed on to Queen Victoria, the British Museum and countless private collections. THE BRUTISH MUSEUMS sits at the heart of a heated debate about cultural restitution, repatriation and the decolonisation of museums. Since its first publication, museums across the western world have begun to return their Bronzes to Nigeria, heralding a new era in the way we understand the collections of empire we once took for granted. Order a copy of THE BRUTISH MUSEUMS: https://bit.ly/3O5HHWa View forthcoming events from Pages of Hackney: https://bit.ly/3lx2vto