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The Ulster Museum has identified artefacts stolen or looted from other countries or connected to the slave trade among its collections.<\/p>\n
Some are on display in a new exhibition called Inclusive Global Histories.<\/p>\n
Representatives from ethnic minority organisations helped set it up and provided advice.<\/p>\n
The museum has about 4,500 items collected from Asia, Africa, America and Oceania in the 19th and early 20th centuries.<\/p>\n
Some other museums are examining potential links\u00a0to the slave trade or whether they have items stolen, looted or removed by the British during the period of empire.<\/p>\n
Some have received requests for items to be returned from Australia, Asia and South America.<\/p>\n
According to the curator of modern history at National Museums NI, Tr\u00edona White Hamilton, many of the artefacts from other cultures were collected by the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society and then donated to the Ulster Museum in 1910.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s only a limited amount of records that come with the collections,\u201d she told BBC News NI.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople collected things for all sorts of reasons \u2013 they were curious about other cultures around the world, some had deep appreciation for the life and skills of indigenous cultures.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there\u2019s also evidence that there were items that were collected unethically as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe items in the world cultures collection really reflect the Western collectors that collected them at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms White Hamilton said that the Ulster Museum has begun to trace the provenance of some of those items.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are objects in the exhibition that we know from our records were stolen or looted from different countries around the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cFor example we have a spear that was taken from Benin in 1897 by a British expedition there.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one of three spears that we hold here in National Museums Northern Ireland, but we\u2019re working with a project called Digital Benin to digitise and research those collections.\u201d<\/p>\n The colonial occupation of the Kingdom of Benin \u2013 now Edo State, Nigeria \u2013 by British troops in February 1897 led to a worldwide dispersal of an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 objects collectively called the \u201cBenin bronzes\u201d, which were plundered from the Royal Palace and other ceremonial sites there.<\/p>\n Digital Benin\u00a0is a website digitally reassembling the collection, but Ms White Hamilton said the museum was \u201cinvolved in discussions about whether or not the spear should be housed in the Ulster Museum or should it belong somewhere else\u201d.<\/p>\n Another item in the exhibition \u2013 a bronze manilla or bracelet from West Africa \u2013 was used as currency in the slave trade.<\/p>\n Only a small number of the museum\u2019s 4,500 artefacts from other cultures are on display in Inclusive Global Histories.<\/p>\n However, National Museums NI has worked with groups representing ethnic minorities in Northern Ireland and in places like Australia and Chile on the exhibition.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re also working with local marginalised groups here, for example the African-Caribbean Support Organisation for Northern Ireland, and having similar discussions with them about whether or not these items that have been collected unethically really should be in the museum collections,\u201d Ms White Hamilton said.<\/p>\n A charred beam from a\u00a0recent arson attack\u00a0on the Belfast Multi-Cultural Association (BMCA) building is one of the contemporary exhibits.<\/p>\n Khaled El Fotooh from BMCA was one of those who advised the museum on the content of the exhibition.<\/p>\n \u201cThat building was the main hub to provide numerous things to the public \u2013 we had a food bank in there, we gave out furniture, we had a clothes bank as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He said that the exhibition showed a changing Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n \u201cThe world is generally becoming a more diverse place for everybody so it\u2019s good to know that Belfast tomorrow will be a better Belfast than it is today and will continue to be a better place for the future,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cDifferent ethnic minorities have a footprint here in Northern Ireland and their organisations are growing.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are contributing to Northern Ireland, so it would be great to have a space in the museum to showcase the history and the heritage of those people who are active citizens in the society of Northern Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr El Fotooh said that he was undecided over whether some of the museum\u2019s artefacts should be repatriated.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s beautiful to walk into any museum anywhere in the world and find artefacts from different places in the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the museum contains just artefacts of the homeland or home town it might have all a similar theme and the colours might all be the same.<\/p>\n \u201cWe go into museums to try to figure out past nations, how they lived, and understand different cultures.\u201d<\/p>\n Tr\u00edona White Hamilton said that the Inclusive Global Histories exhibition was just the start of the museum\u2019s work to examine the colonial origins of some of its collections.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a lot of work still to be done to find out how those items were collected in the first place,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not something that we can just do locally, we need the support and partnership of organisations internationally to do that type of research as well.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n![\"Ulster](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/triona.jpg\" "\\"Ulster")
![\"Ulster](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/bracelet.jpg\" "\\"Ulster")
\u2018History and heritage\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"Ulster](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Khaled-El-Fotooh-from-BMCA.jpg\" "\\"Ulster")