Reinventing the archive in Africa: Mati Diop’s Dahomey (2024)

Abstract

The documentary film Dahomey by Mati Diop participates in the public debate on the restitution of heritage works to colonized countries. The film follows the return of the Royal Treasures of Abomey in Benin from France in 2021. The visual memorialization of the restoration of stolen artifacts is a decolonial statement on the reparation of tangible and intangible losses. As Aminata Traoré comments, “Thus our works of art have the right to exist where we are, on the whole, banned from staying.” Diop places the returned artifacts in conversation with the people whose sacred objects were looted, showing that these works of art are not just historical objects but also relationships to lives lived. In the film, the artifacts speak and make palpable the decontextualization and violence of their displacement. This article examines how the film views cultural restitution as a process of actively repairing the broken links of life and history for the reinvention of memories of oneself and the restoration of the community.