Lucky Ugbudian

Dr Lucky Igohosa Ugbudian lectures at the Department of History and Strategic Studies, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi, Nigeria. He trained at the University of Ibadan for BA-History and MA-African Studies. Dr Ugbudian received his doctorate degree at the Department of History and International Studies, University of Uyo. The research interests of Dr Ugbudian include history, cultural heritage, peace and international studies. He has published more than twenty five papers in journals, chapters in books and conference proceedings. Dr Ugbudian has won fellowships and grants at the University of Cologne, Germany, University of Ghana, Legon, Dubaw-Nigeria and University of Bern, Switzerland. Dr Ugbudian is presently a Visiting Fellow at the University of Bern.

Dr Ugbudian Lucky Igohosa is presently working on the struggles for the restitution of Benin artefacts in Switzerland focusing on the initiatives by groups in both countries. The artefacts were looted in 1897 by the British forces following the conquest and destruction of Benin kingdom. Although \Switzerland was not active participant in colonial enterprise, its citizens and trading companies made fortune from the process. Similarly, Swiss nationals and museums buying Benin artworks invariably dragged them into the Benin restitution debates because of the violate process the British forces obtained the artworks.  This study will interrogate the history and trajectories of Benin artefacts in Swiss Museums. In this context, it will examine Benin artefacts in the eight Swiss museums holding Benin collections. These museums are Musée d'ethnographie de la Ville de Neuchâte (MEN), Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich (VMZ), Museum Schloss Burgdorf - Ethnologische Sammlung (MSB), Bernisches Historisches Museum (BHM), Historisches und Völkerkundemuseum St. Gallen (HVM), Musée d'ethnographie de Genève (MEG), Museum der Kulturen Basel (MKB), and Museum Rietberg Zürich (MRZ). The reesearch will also analyse the exchanges and engagments between the Nigerian and Swiss groups that culminated in the provennace research as a signifcant aspect in the restittion debate. The findings of the provennace research and the aftermath will form an importat part of this study.  And finally, it will evaluate the roles and positions of the various groups including the kind of restitution envisaged and the impac on both sides in terms of cultural development, collajoboration and jusice.  This study no doubt will broaden the dynamics in the recent shift in the position of several western musuems and governemnts on aretefacts in Western musuems from questionable source. Consequenlty, this research will give new insights to the restitution of Benin artefacts in particular and the global debate on the restitution of colonial era artwroks.