Is it possible—or desirable—to ‘correct’ a relation of power between subjugated peoples and their colonizers if the originary imperial violence continues to be perpetuated in the present day? In 1897 during the height of the Scramble for Africa, the British colonial military invaded the Kingdom of Benin (modern day Nigeria) and looted 10,000 sacred ancestral artifacts from the royal palace. These pieces, often referred to as the Benin bronzes, largely remain scattered across North America and Western Europe in museums and galleries despite decades of calls for their restitution. Launching the Correction* Seminar Series, Cresa Pugh, Assistant Professor of Sociology at The New School for Social Research, explores what it means to attempt to overcome more than a century of imperial violence against this collection of artifacts and their descendants by their captors, Western governments, and the contemporary museum industrial complex. What does corrective repair look and feel like in the postcolonial context and can contemporary Indigenous art forms and practices provide one method through which restitution is achieved and the healing process between oppressor and oppressed begins? Pugh’s lecture is punctuated by poetry readings by Nigerian poet Inua Ellams. 

Correction* Seminar Series 

A series of twelve seminars, presented from September 2022 through May 2024, Correction* is structured as an open curriculum. Led by Vera List Center faculty and staff, each monthly seminar in this two-year series explores the perils and potentials of the political, social, and metaphorical implications of “correction.” Bridging theory and practice, Correction* unfolds through three distinct research clusters every semester set to guide our joint investigation into Restitution, the Body, and Carcerality. It is presented as part of the Barbara Jordan Lectures: The State of Democracy series.

The Vera List Center is committed to ensuring that our programs are accessible to and inclusive of all. Please let us know when registering if you need any accommodation.