Dr. Alessandro Chechi

Post-Dependency Justice through Legal Reform

The concentration of the cultural heritage of formerly subjugated peoples in Western museums represents one of the legacies of colonialism and a form of strong asymmetrical dependency. Beyond material loss, the removal of cultural objects has also produced an intangible heritage in former colonies, consisting of memories and experiences of looting and violence that survivors passed to their descendants. These intergenerational narratives confirm that colonial plunder has left deep emotional scars that have not healed over time. The project ‘Post-Dependency Justice through Legal Reform’ focuses on the concepts embedded in the domestic laws of former European colonial powers that enable public museums to reject repatriation claims. These include notions such as good faith and inalienability. The rationale for this focus is that these legal constructs perpetuate the strong asymmetrical dependency described above. The project aims to identify and analyse these concepts from a historical and legal perspective in order to (i) clarify how and why these concepts emerged; (ii) examine whether and how they were applied during the colonial era; (iii) trace how their scope was extended to cultural objects; (iv) identify possible pathways to facilitate the lawful deaccessioning of claimed cultural objects.

since 2025
Chercheur associé (associate researcher), Centre de Recherche sur les Relations entre les Risques et le Droit (C3RD), Faculty of Law, Catholic University of Lille, Lille, France

2011–2026
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Law, Catholic University of Lille, Lille, France

2011–2016
Post-doctoral researcher, Faculty of Law, University of Geneva, Switzerland

2006–2011
PhD in International Law, Law Department, European University Institute, Florence, Italy

2003
LL.M in European Law, Law Department, University College London, United Kingdom

2001
J.D. in Law, University of Siena, Siena, Italy