Cultural Property and Contested Ownership

Cultural artefacts, such as those kept and trafficked between art dealers, private collectors and museums, have increasingly become localized in a ‘Bermuda triangle’ of colonialism, looting and the art (black) market, with their re-emergence resulting in disputes about ownership and claims for return. Taking the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property as a starting point, this book explores how highly valued cultural goods are traded and negotiated among diverging parties and their interests. Against the backdrop of international conventions and their implementation, individual cases are examined from a bottom-up perspective, with contributions from anthropologists, lawyers, historians and archaeologists.