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33 IJCP 1 (2026)

handle is hein.journals/injculpy33 and id is 1 raw text is: International Journal of Cultural Property (2026), 33, e14, 1-15 ICAMBRIDGE doi: UNIVERSITY PRESS CASE STUDY The Politics of Return: Museums, Repatriation and Cultural Diplomacy in Italy, Albania, and Canada Christina Iannelli Cultural Systems - Museum Studies, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Italy Email: In an era of intensifying global interconnection and mounting pressure for historical reckoning, repatriation' has emerged as a critical arena where museums navigate the fraught intersections of cultural diplomacy and sovereignty.2 Once framed primarily as a legal or ethical imperative, the restitution of cultural property now functions as a strategic site of negotiation' that compels museums to redefine their roles within transnational networks of cultural governance. As institutions historically tasked with the stewardship of contested objects, museums today operate as diplomatic actors engaged in processes that transcend national boundaries4 and implicate broader structures of international cooper- ation and historical accountability, an evolution that mirrors ongoing efforts to redefine the very role of museums within global institutions such as the International Council of Museums (ICOM).' This paper situates repatriation as a distinctly political practice, one shaped by transnational pressures, contested sovereignties, and shifting institutional roles.' As Neil MacGregor has noted in A History ofthe World in100 Objects, museums use objects to tell stories about human civilization, power, and identity; the possession and narration of those objects, then, becomes central to how institutions assert authority and interpret the nation. This paper examines how these dynamics unfold through two distinct yet interconnected cases of repatriation: the 1982 return of the Goddess of Butrint, a classical marble head The terms restitution and repatriation are often used interchangeably in cultural heritage discourse, yet they carry distinct connotations. Restitution typically refers to the return of cultural objects to individuals or commu- nities as legal owners, often following illicit removal or theft. Repatriation, by contrast, denotes the return of cultural objects to a nation, Indigenous people, or cultural group, often grounded in ethical, historical, or diplomatic frameworks rather than legal title. This article uses repatriation to emphasize the political, symbolic, and sovereign dimensions of return. See Collections Trust n.d.; Museums Association 2021; and Scovazzi 0. 2 Phillips s Prott and Patrick 1992. 4 Message s Sandahl 6 See ICOM .: A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge sharing. ' MacGregor 2010. © The Author(s), 2026. Publishedby Cambridge University Press onbehalfofInternational Cultural Property Society. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence ( v ), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.