CAA News Today

In response to the increasingly pressing need to address principled and fair stewardship in institutions, ACASA has released new Guidelines for Provenance Research and Restitution. CAA acknowledges the critical need for this document and supports ACASA’s efforts.   

From ACASA’s December 2 press release:  

The new resource, the first-ever for museums in the United States, emphasizes collaboration and communication with Africa-based peers, descendant communities, and other knowledge-holding constituents in assessing and determining the futures of collections. Developed with support from the Mellon Foundation, this foundational document is publicly accessible and recommended for sharing with all U.S. collecting institutions. 

The guidelines were developed over a three-year period by a working group of over seventy specialists from the United States, Africa, and Europe. The initiative began in 2021 and was informed by ongoing dialogue with Africa-based institutions, professionals, and community members. The final document, ratified by ACASA in August 2024, encourages museums to uphold their ethical responsibilities in their stewardship of African objects, in addition to any legal requirements. This includes promptly responding to return concerns and claims. It also recommends that U.S. museums demonstrate an institutional commitment to:  

• transparency regarding collection holdings and information about object histories
• working with interested parties on the African continent on collaborations, including
• returns, within this field-wide framework of accepted practice
• prioritizing research on collection holdings
• disseminating information about African arts collections in accordance with ethical computing standards 

ACASA is a U.S.-based professional organization, with over 1,800 members worldwide. For more than four decades, ACASA has championed African arts scholarship, connecting artists, researchers, curators and collections on the African continent, in North America, Europe and beyond. For more information about ACASA and how to join, visit acasaonline.org.