Cultural repatriation, the return to Caribbean and African nations of cultural artefacts and historical records held in British collections, is a separate question from financial reparations and one where Britain’s record is more open to legitimate criticism.
British museums and archives hold significant collections of material from the Caribbean and Africa acquired during the colonial period. Some of this material was taken without consent. The case for returning identifiable objects to their places of origin is distinct from the case for financial reparations and deserves to be assessed on its own terms. Progress on cultural repatriation does not require accepting the broader reparations argument.
