USC logo

The Brutish Museums

Published by USC Bedrosian Center on

The Brutish Museums by Dan Hicks is a necrography wherein each stolen item from Benin City is an ongoing event: each event a story of colonial violence told and retold through daily viewings by tourists and school children. A story told over and over again by countless curators across the globe. Can curators find a way so that these stories, these events, these artifacts cease their work toward annihilation of culture?

It is also a “calling in” for museum curators to work toward a future of restitution; a future of museums free of stolen objects, cultures, and histories.

Host Aubrey Hicks is joined by Jen Bravo, David Sloane, and Donnajean Ward.

Read along with us ...

Thank you to our co-producers Aubrey Hicks and Jonathan Schwartz as well as our beloved sound supervisors, The Brothers Hedden. Recorded at the USC Price School.

Jennifer Bravo

Jen Bravo

President
Jennifer Bravo Consulting, Inc.

David Sloane

Professor
Department of Urban Planning and Spatial Analysis
USC Sol Price School of Public Policy

Donnajean Ward

Special Project Manager for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
USC Sol Price School of Public Policy

Bedrosian Center