Peru art, revisited — but not at Yale
NEW YORK — In the fall of 2007, when it seemed certain that Yale and Peru would reach an amicable agreement over the ownership of Inca artifacts housed at the Peabody Museum of Natural History, it also seemed certain that a museum would be built in Peru to house the high-quality pieces the University was willing to send back.
Now, as the parties begin to wage a legal battle that could involve years of filing motions and rebuttals, it is unlikely that such a museum will open in time for the 2011 centennial anniversary of Yale explorer Hiram Bingham III’s expedition to Machu Picchu....
If the same argument was flipped over....Yale should be thankful that Peru lent those artifacts otherwise they would not to have made research and exhibitions, or might have remained undiscovered by Peru altogether.
Today´s Yale governing is just as likely not to give back something they were lent to, kind of like graverobbers of the present.
Peru is morally left to own works which comes from their land.
Without polarized arguments like the one above people could start understand how to make agreements.
The poeple of Peru are clearly the rightful owners of all of the artifacts which were removed from their country. Hiram Bingham "dicovered" nothing. He told the Peruvians what he wanted to see and they led him to it. Machu Pichu was never lost. There were Peruvians living there at the time of the arrival of Hiram Bingham. The Peruvians trusted Hiram Bingham, Yale University and the USA. Look what they got in return for their trust: robbed of their heritage. Shut up, Yale!
"Shut up, Yale"? And you are?
Peru should be thankful that Yale rescued and preserved artifacts that otherwise would have been sold to tourists, or might have remained undiscovered altogether.
And today's Peruvian government is just as likely to sell them as any graverobbers of the past.
Yale is morally right in keeping these things.