{"id":12328,"date":"2025-08-18T15:11:52","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T19:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lammuseum.wfu.edu\/?page_id=12328"},"modified":"2025-08-18T15:12:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T19:12:02","slug":"return-to-sender","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lammuseum.wfu.edu\/exhibits\/return-to-sender\/","title":{"rendered":"Return to Sender? Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and Repatriation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">January 6 &#8211; August 15, 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"550\" height=\"652\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.wp.cdn.aws.wfu.edu\/sites\/417\/2024\/03\/AOTM-Dot-Painting-550.jpg\" alt=\"dot painting\" class=\"wp-image-10679\" style=\"width:300px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/prod.wp.cdn.aws.wfu.edu\/sites\/417\/2024\/03\/AOTM-Dot-Painting-550.jpg 550w, https:\/\/prod.wp.cdn.aws.wfu.edu\/sites\/417\/2024\/03\/AOTM-Dot-Painting-550-253x300.jpg 253w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Many objects in museum collections around the world were taken unethically from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities\u00a0in\u00a0Australia. Though some objects have been returned in order to address colonial histories and honor cultural practices today, neither museums nor indigenous communities are able to repatriate everything&#8211;nor do they want to.\u00a0Featuring Aboriginal objects\u00a0and highlighting the Lam Museum\u2019s experience attempting repatriation but ultimately not enacting it, the exhibit raises important questions for the future of cross-cultural exhibits: Who has the right to hold, display, or interpret these objects? And how can museums protect cultural heritage when return isn&#8217;t possible?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>January 6 &#8211; August 15, 2026 Many objects in museum collections around the world were taken unethically from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities\u00a0in\u00a0Australia. Though some objects have been returned in order to address colonial histories and honor cultural practices today, neither museums nor indigenous [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":0,"parent":23,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"overlay_title":false,"hide_featured_image_post":false,"wfu_hide_page_title":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12328","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Return to Sender? Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and Repatriation - Timothy S. Y. Lam Museum of Anthropology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This exhibit features Aboriginal cultural objects and discusses issues of repatriation and museum collections.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lammuseum.wfu.edu\/exhibits\/return-to-sender\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Return to Sender? Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and Repatriation - Timothy S. Y. Lam Museum of Anthropology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This exhibit features Aboriginal cultural objects and discusses issues of repatriation and museum collections.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lammuseum.wfu.edu\/exhibits\/return-to-sender\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Timothy S. Y. 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