In line with a broad movement acknowledging colonial-era spoliations and seeking to rebalance cultural relations between Africa and Europe, countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands have, in recent years, proceeded with the restitution of works of art, including numerous masks, to African states.

Since 2020, Sub-Saharan Africa’s cultural landscape has been marked by a growing wave of restitutions of significant heritage artefacts. On June 21, 2025, the Dutch government returned 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, nearly 130 years after they were looted during the colonial era.

“The symbolism of this event cannot be overestimated - it is a moment of pride and restoration of dignity not only for the people of Benin, but for all of Nigeria,” said Olugbile Holloway, Director General of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments, in a statement.

Global attention to the restitution debate was recently renewed by Dahomey, a documentary by French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop, which won the Golden Bear at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival. The film chronicles the November 2021 return of 26 royal treasures from France to Dahomey, present-day Benin, and highlights the enduring tensions surrounding the restitution of African art looted during the colonial period.

Similar cases are increasingly common across the continent, including in Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Masks, however, represent only part of the objects returned.

Selected Cases of Mask Restitution

In June 2022, Belgium’s King Philippe handed over a ceremonial Kakuungu mask to the Democratic Republic of Congo during a ceremony at the National Museum in Kinshasa.

In a separate case, after two decades of negotiations, Switzerland’s Barbier-Mueller Museum returned a Makonde mask to Tanzanian authorities. A formal restitution ceremony took place in Paris on May 10, 2010.

Outside their original cultural context, masks have often been viewed primarily as artistic objects, appreciated for their visual qualities through a Western aesthetic framework.

Beyond Aesthetics: Social and Political Dimensions

Recent scholarship challenges this narrow interpretation, emphasizing that masks should be understood not merely as works of art but as social and political actors. Researchers caution against Western readings that reduce masks to a so-called primitive aesthetic and overlook their active role in African societies.

“The mask, like statuary, immediately raises for the European mind the question of aesthetic status: is the mask an art object?” writes researcher Sanou Noël. “The answer was initially provided by Griaule: the impersonal and incorporeal force of nyama inhabits the awa. The mask is a gateway into the system of thought of mask-wearing societies.”

He refers to Masques Dogons, which describes the triadic meaning of the awa: the ritual persona embodied by the mask, the fibres that form its physical structure, and the men who serve within the Society of Masks.

Across African cultural traditions, the meaning and function of masks vary widely depending on social, ritual, and regional contexts.

A Diversity of Meanings

The Gelede mask, used during festivals in Nigeria and Benin, celebrates women and motherhood as pillars of social cohesion. Its vivid colours and animal motifs express spiritual and communal values.

Among the Chokwe people of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, and Zambia, the Mwana Pwo mask embodies ideals of feminine beauty, fertility, and women’s spiritual influence.

In Burkina Faso, the Bwa mask, often a rectangular plank adorned with geometric patterns, represents bush spirits and is used in rituals invoking rain and agricultural fertility.

On Mali’s Bandiagara Plateau, the Dogon people employ the Kanaga mask, identifiable by its double-cross form, during Dama funeral ceremonies. It symbolizes the creation of the world and the link between sky and earth.

In Gabon, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea, Fang masks coated in kaolin play a central role in the Byeri ancestor cult. They serve to protect the community and to mediate between the living and the spirits.

The Dan mask of Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia, recognized by its oval shape and serene expression, represents a forest spirit. Used in judicial proceedings, initiation rites, and protective ceremonies, it is believed to reveal mystical forces.

The return of masks to African communities forms part of a broader effort to reclaim cultural identity and historical continuity. At a time of rapid social and economic change, such cultural anchors are increasingly vital for Sub-Saharan Africa, providing a foundation for collective memory and future development.

Ubrick F. Quenum