Mainstreaming the Discourse on Restitution and Repatriation within African History, Heritage Studies and Political Science

The recent upsurge of interest in restitution and repatriation debates by practitioners and scholars might offer appropriate chances for true interdisciplinary research. Not only should historical, anthropological and legal studies take part in such a conversation, but also, political science, archaeology and heritage studies. Resolutely and systematically giving voice to both African stakeholders and African researchers is an imperative. In this introduction, the fresh start of a rich debate is traced, providing the framework for processing and understanding current debates and practices of restitution. Essential and neglected questions are formulated. Detected voids call for the mainstreaming of a new discourse on restitution and repatriation to play a pivotal role in the epistemology of these allied disciplines and training.