Decolonization in action: A Museum Studies example

Museum Studies lecturer Bruno R. Véras helped the Faculty of Information play a key role in a recent decision by Harvard University to repatriate two human skulls to Brazil, including one believed to belong to a Muslim rebel who took part in an important slave revolt in 1835.  

Véras, who is Brazilian himself, first became involved in this story back in 2022 when Harvard prepared a special report on human remains in its museum collections and what should be done with them. After seeing discussions on social media, he joined an international team of scholars and helped on the creation of a working group called Arakunrin, which takes its name  from the word brother in Yoruba, the African ethnicity to which the rebel slaves belonged. 

Véras collaborated with other Arakunrin members, including noted Brazilian historian João José Reis and Sheikh Abdul Hameed Ahmad, a respected religious leader in Brazil, who wanted to ensure the skull of the man would finally have a proper Muslim burial with members of his community. For his part, Véras, who had once studied Arabic with the Sheikh, created a crucial platform for dialogue at U of T that ultimately led to a breakthrough in the repatriation negotiations. 

“This was a real decolonial project,” said Veras, who also teaches in art history and digital humanities programs. “We were negotiating and demanding the return of a skull that was stolen by US diplomats.” 

Students in Veras’s Museum Studies course (MSL 2115 Global Cultures and Museums)  got the chance to participate in two international seminars that Veras organized. They observed the dynamics of negotiation, the different approaches taken by scholars and diplomats, and the posture of Harvard officials. They also critically analyzed Harvard’s reports and the working group’s documentation.  

Véras saw the students’ excitement in witnessing the positive outcomes of a process they had actively engaged with through questions and discussions. He framed the experience as not just an “academic and political activity, but also pedagogical.” 

The history of the stolen skulls began in 1835 when hundreds of Muslim slaves from the Yoruba ethinicity, revolted in Salvador, the capital of the Bahia state in Brazil. Police killed dozens of the estimated 600 rebels in putting down the revolt.  

Through his historical research, Véras uncovered more details about Gideon T. Snow, the man who took the skull, including the fact that he was operating as a U.S. diplomat and not a mere traveler from Boston. 

“I checked old newspapers in Brazil from three different cities to look for the movements of Snow and his brother. I was putting these pieces together to understand the provenance of the remains,” said Véras, who had previously been part of a group that successfully advocated for the return, in 2020, of a confiscated collection of sacred objects from different Afro-Brazilian religions.  

“I would say discovering that the man, who stole the skull, was a U.S. diplomat had an important impact on the discussions for repatriation,” said Véras. 

The skull is believed to have been used in eugenic studies before being sent to Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology where it has been for almost two centuries. While the Harvard report recommended that human remains be returned to their countries of origin for proper burial, talks stalled for a period after its release. 

Véras’s seminars were sponsored by the Faculty of Information. Although they were held online, both U of T and Canada were seen as a “neutral ground” for these crucial conversations, he said.  

The first seminar in 2023, supported by the Museum Studies Student Association (MUSSA), brought together members of Arakunrin with Jackson Lima, a Brazilian diplomat who had previously been posted to many different countries in Africa and was then at the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C. 

The second seminar, held in February 2024, included Jane Pickering, director of the Peabody Museum at Harvard, and Tatiana Texeira, a Brazilian diplomat who heads up the Division of Multilateral Cultural Affairs at the country’s foreign ministry, alongside participants from Nigeria, Brazil, the US and Canada.  

It proved to be a turning point. Within weeks, Harvard agreed to return not just the skull of the rebel slave but also a second skull from the 1870s, which had been “dug out from the streets of Rio de Janeiro” by an American scientist during a scientific mission, said Véras. This decision was partly influenced by the upcoming 190th anniversary of the slave revolt in 2025, which helped create momentum. 

Véras pointed out there is often “silence” in the records regarding human skulls and other remains compared to the detailed documentation provided for artefacts and objects. He believes this shows that both Snow, who took the first skull, and the scientist, who took the second skull, knew their actions were “unethical and wrong”.  

The repatriation process is now underway, with the first skull destined for Salvador, the site of the revolt, and the second for Rio de Janeiro, where it was taken. Plans include the creation of small monuments in both cities, developed in consultation with the respective communities. Before the burial of the first skull, forensic dentistry experts will examine the teeth for any DNA clues they can find about the man’s identity. 

Véras is continuing his research, including investigating the provenance of the second skull.