Tracking down Nigeria’s stolen artefacts

This week, we talk about the Benin Bronzes, a group of sacred artefacts stolen by British colonisers from the west African Kingdom of Benin. Guest host Lulu Smyth speaks to Aanu Adeoye and Josh Spero, who have been reporting on the efforts to trace thousands of them. For years western museums, which hold the bulk of the Benin Bronzes, refused to collect and share inventory, meaning they could not be returned to Nigeria. Now, a new digital project is doing just that. Then, it’s the first of our ‘boring topic’ challenges. We talk to author Benjamin Lorr about supermarkets and their secret – and not-so-secret – ways to lure us in.

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Links and mentions from the episode:

– Aanu and Josh’s story, ‘The Benin Bronzes and the road to restitution’: https://www.ft.com/content/1b32105e-428a-49e8-b2f2-d3ba381c4c65

– Digital Benin can be explored here: https://digitalbenin.org/

– The song we played is Egbo: The Song of Praise for Oba Eware, by Roseline Obogdu. You can listen to it here: https://digitalbenin.org/oral-history#filter_none&interview_7

– Aanu is on Twitter @aanuadeoye. Josh is at @joshspero.

– Benjamin Lorr’s book is The Secret Lives of Groceries.

– You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenjaminLorr.

‘Egbo: Song of Praise for Oba Eware’ by Roseline Ogbodu, is courtesy of Digital Benin.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com