National Museum of Vanuatu
Repatriation
Repatriation
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In 2003 it was noted that absences in the collections included: material related to missionary activity, nationalism in Vanuatu, and material culture relating to cargo cults, for example those of [John Frum](/wiki/John_Frum "John Frum"). However, much missionary material culture that relates to Vanuatu is held in overseas collections, particularly in countries connected to [Scottish Presbyterianism](/wiki/Presbyterianism "Presbyterianism"). Many other countries host ethnographic and scientific specimens from Vanuatu, as a result of colonial collecting practices.

### *Lengnangulong* sacred stone

Since 1997 the original owners of the [*Lengnangulong* sacred stone](/wiki/Lengnangulong_sacred_stone "Lengnangulong sacred stone"), which is from the village of Magam on North Ambryn, have requested either the repatriation of the object or formal acknowledgement of their ownership from the [Louvre](/wiki/Louvre "Louvre"). It was collected by [Jean Guiart](/wiki/Jean_Guiart "Jean Guiart"), a French anthropologist in 1949\. Whilst the original is in Paris, in the Pavillon des Sessions of the Musée du Louvre, a copy of the stone is displayed at the National Museum of Vanuatu. In Vanuatu, ownership of the stone according the *kastom* is recognised as Zaki Tubuvi. Whilst Guiart paid a small amount of money for the stone, he did not pay the *kastom* owners \- Tubuvi \- and so according to ni\-Vanuatu culture, Guiart's act is equivalent to stealing as he ignored traditional practice. As of 2017, the stone had not been returned or traditional ownership acknowledged.

### Objects held in overseas collections

File:Vanuatu MHNT ETH AC NG 29 pirogue.jpg\|Pacific canoe prow, featuring a frigate bird, from the island of Vao, now at \[\[Muséum de Toulouse\|Museum of Toulouse]].
File:Vanuatu objects, Otago Museum, 2016\-01\-29\.jpg\|Display of ni\-Vanuatu objects in \[\[Otago Museum]]
File:Vanuatu Zeremonialkeule Museum Rietberg RME 703\.jpg\|Ceremonial club, from Ambrym or Malakula, held at \[\[Rietberg Museum\|Museum Rietberg]]
File:Red mat from Pentecost Island, Vanuatu, Honolulu Museum of Art accession 14147\.1\.jpg\|''Sese'' (red mat) from Pentecost Island, 20th century, pandanus (Pandanus tectorius), Laba (Rhamnus ventilago neocaledonica), dye, stencil resist and plaiting, \[\[Honolulu Museum of Art]].
File:Slit gong from Vanuatu, 19th century CE. National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.jpg\|Slit gong, from Vanuatu, held at \[\[National Museum of Scotland]]
File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center \- ZMA.MOLL.205130 \- Vexillum pardalis (Küster, 1841\) \- Costellariidae \- Mollusc shell.jpeg\|Molluscs from \[\[Zoological Museum Amsterdam\|Zoological Museum, Amsterdam]]


What are the implications of repatriating or acknowledging ownership for cultural artifacts?