Open Restitution Africa (ORA) is a pan-African, women-led organization dedicated to aggregating and disseminating information about processes pertaining to the restitution of African belongings and human ancestors. By documenting the rich legacy of restitution efforts led by African communities, experts, and institutions, ORA aims to reshape the restitution narrative to center African practitioners, increasing the effectiveness of such processes across the continent and worldwide.
Our core activity areas
We conduct nuanced, grass roots research that engages with activists, communities, museums and other stakeholders directly involved in restitution processes. We also undertake exploratory research addressing broader concerns tied to restitution thematics.
We have developed a custom-built data platform that caters to the nuances and complexities of restitution data. Our platform centralizes, retrieves, and visualizes outputs from our case study research.
We produce engaging content to demystify restitution for both professionals and the general public. Our advocacy materials aim to educate and engage stakeholders involved in restitution while ensuring our research findings reach a wide audience.
Restitution of African belongings is a significant and complex issue which involves the return of cultural and historical possessions that were taken from African countries and are currently housed in museums and institutions in Europe and other parts of the world. Taken without consent, and often through violence, these belongings hold immense cultural and historical significance for their countries of origin.
Despite growing pressure to return belongings and human ancestors to Africa, information on previous and ongoing restitution efforts remains scattered, highly localized, and difficult to find. ORAis founded on the belief that access to information on restitution can greatly aid restitution processes by fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing, strengthening policy frameworks and building critical mass awareness around core restitution issues.
ORA’s mission is to provide a meaningful and nuanced portrayal of African restitution that reflects the complex experiences of restitution work on the continent. Our work primarily targets Africa-based community activists, museum practitioners, government representatives and researchers involved in restitution efforts at various levels. On a broader scale, this information is also valuable to funders, scholars, and cultural practitioners in Euro-American institutions interested in engaging with restitution on the continent.
We believe that access to Africa-centered data can help move restitution relations beyond the extractive and repressive approaches that have historically prioritized Western interests over the needs of rightful owners in Africa. By doing so, we aim to create pathways for more ethical and equitable relationships around restitution.
Media features and reporting on our work
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Source: THE ART NEWSPAPER
Source: La Croix
Source: Aljazeera
Open Restitution Africa was founded by artist Molemo Moiloa of Andani Africa and historian Chao Tayiana Maina of African Digital Heritage, who met at a conference on African museums in Namibia in 2019. United by a shared passion for African heritage and technology, the two were struck by the difficulty of finding information on African restitution processes, despite numerous ongoing and past cases. In 2020, they founded the initiative to address this lack of visibility and increase access to restitution data in Africa.
What started off as a collaborative passion project has now grown to a team of 5 dedicated women committed to understanding and exploring the ways in which data can strengthen restitution efforts and discourse on the continent.
Co-Founder
Co-Founder
Senior Researcher
Research Associate
Research and Operations Associate
Andani Africa was formed in 2016 out of a need to address the knowledge gap that exists in the understanding of the creative and cultural industries in Africa. Andani Africa’s purpose is premised on the belief that in order to grow CCI in Africa, sophisticated ways of data collection and analysis need to be developed.
African Digital Heritage is a non-profit organisation founded in Kenya in 2017 to encourage a more critical, holistic and knowledge-based approach to the design and implementation of digital solutions within African cultural heritage.
