Whose Knowledge, Whose Values? Palm Leaf Manuscripts and the Question of Colonial Collections in Dutch Heritage Institutions

This project seeks to address the questions of how to come to terms with the colonial past in the present and the role that objects can play in reconciliation with the past. The project focuses on the request for return of objects by the Sri Lankan state, and especially the Palm Leaf Manuscripts taking them as a starting point to think through how to arrive at a method for a balance of interest, as regards measuring the value of these objects for Sri Lankan society as compared to the value for the Netherlands. One aim of the project is to generate knowledge on how the question of restitution is impacting the originating communities similarly or differently as compared to Europe where much work has already been done. Importantly, this project will rethink the question of preservation and how preservations norms can be imagined and fashioned to push questions of restitution forward. For this we will think through how to indigenize preservation norms.