Epistemic Justice in the Return of Indigenous Cultural Heritage to Southeast Asia
The past decade has hosted concurrent movements in the fields of art, archaeology, anthropology, and international law for the return of cultural heritage. Such movements have achieved significant moments for Southeast Asia, with notable repatriation of artifacts to states such as Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar from Western museums. The presentation reflects on the preceding efforts through the perspective of epistemic justice. The presentation argues that epistemic justice calls for return of cultural heritage in ways that satisfy the expectations of the cultures of origin, and those expectations do not necessarily align with states. The presentation focuses on Southeast Asia, highlighting how the return of Indigenous cultural heritage to Southeast Asian states has been insufficient to meet the expectations of their respective Indigenous peoples.