Lehmann, Jörg Cultural heritage objects in lack of anchoring communities. An unfinished reflection on a relational ethics of care. JLIS.it, 2026, vol. 17, n. 3, pp. 184-197. [Journal article (Paginated)]

The return of cultural artefacts taken during the colonial era seems to be a matter of course in our time. But what happens if the communities to whom these objects should be returned have for long ceased to exist and their successors are involved in a civil war? At the example of manuscripts taken from Ethiopia after the Battle of Maqdala, this contribution discusses ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) surrounding such cultural heritage objects and calls into question the premises of recent calls for their return. This article discusses the history of these manuscripts and the case of missing “anchoring communities”, reconsiders provisional alternatives such as digitisation and provision in open access, and argues in the sense of an ethics of care. Consequently, an individual, rights-based approach to archival ethics is set aside and the care for the object itself is temporarily prioritised over the physical repatriation of the cultural heritage item.

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