Bonacci Giulia, Gray A. (2023). The Book Liberator : Rastafari and the retour of Maqdala's artefacts to Ethiopia. In :
Cousin S. (ed.), Doquet Anne (ed.), Galitzine-Loumpet A. (ed.). Retours de restitutions [dossier]. Cahiers d'Études Africaines, 251-252, 835-858. ISSN 0008-0055.
Titre du document
The Book Liberator : Rastafari and the retour of Maqdala's artefacts to Ethiopia
Drawing on Rastafari's campaigns for the return of sacred objects looted by British forces in Maqdala, Ethiopia, in 1868, this paper offers a significantly under-researched case of diasporic community interventions on broader debates concerning restitution, reparations, and repatriation.
The focus of this intervention is Ras Seymour Mclean, who, between 1983 and 1984, reclaimed thousands of books and manuscripts held in British public institutions and was called ?The Book Liberator.? In situating this act within a wider resurgence of Pan-African activity and histories of
repair, this paper explores the structuring impact of the demands of restitution of the objects seized in Maqdala to demonstrate how diasporic imagination can be mobilised to redress the historical relation between Ethiopia and Britain, whilst simultaneously centring the role of people of
African descent in this process.
