Abstract
This study examines the intertwined questions of provenance, ritual displacement, and cultural recontextualization of transatlantic African art objects that have transitioned from sacred to secular domains. Focusing on ritual artworks and ceremonial artifacts from West and Central Africa—particularly Cameroon, Nigeria, and Ghana—the workshop explores how the movement of these objects across colonial, missionary, and postcolonial circuits has reshaped their meanings, functions, and cultural value. As objects originally embedded in spiritual, performative, and community-based practices entered museum collections, private markets, and contemporary art spaces, their identities shifted, often producing tensions between heritage, authenticity, and commodification. The session engages current debates on restitution, cultural patrimony, and the politics of display, asking: What happens when sacred objects are uprooted and reframed as aesthetic or anthropological specimens? How do communities of origin, curators, and artists negotiate the demands of spiritual continuity, cultural memory, and global art economies? By bringing together perspectives from art history, performance studies, and heritage research, the session considers how rituals of return, community re-enactments, and digital storytelling generate new forms of re-sacralization and cultural renewal. Designed as a dialogic workshop, the session will include short position statements, visual story-mapping of object histories, and interactive discussion among scholars, curators, artists, and cultural custodians. Together, participants will reflect on how provenance research and ritual knowledge can support ethical curation, transnational collaboration, and equitable heritage futures across continents.
Presenters
Afutendem Lucas NkwettaAssociate Professor of English and Film Studies, Applied Foreign Languages, University of Dschang, West, Cameroon
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
Provenance, Ritual displacement, Cultural recontextualization, Transatlantic African art, Sacred to secular transformation, West and Central Africa, Museum display and curation, Heritage and cultural patrimony, Restitution politics
