Join the Fowler in welcoming artist, historian, and professor of history at the Central European University in Vienna, Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll, for a program on her newest publication: The Contested Crown: Repatriation Politics between Europe and Mexico (University of Chicago Press).

Carroll meditates on the case of a spectacular feather headdress believed to have belonged to Montezuma, the last emperor of the Aztecs. This crown has long been at the center of political and cultural power struggles, and is one of the most contested museum claims between Europe and the Americas. Taken to Europe during the conquest of Mexico, it was deposited at Ambras Castle, the Habsburg residence of the author’s ancestors, and is today in Vienna’s Welt Museum. Mexico has repeatedly requested its return, but the Welt Museum cites scientific reasons for retaining it, insisting that it is too fragile to travel.

The Contested Crown is both a biography of a cultural object and a history of collecting and colonizing; it also offers an artist’s perspective on the creative potentials of repatriation. Carroll compares the ethics underlying the restitution claims pertaining to objects taken by colonial powers to those entailing artworks stolen from victims of the Holocaust; and considers the relationships between Indigenous people, international law, and the museums with global holdings. She also addresses the significance of copies, and the role of conservation science in shaping collections. Illustrated with diagrams and rare archival material, the book brings together global and European history; material culture surrounding the crown and debates about repatriation.

A book-signing and conversation will follow the talk. Refreshments will be served in the courtyard.

12:30–1:15 pm:
Book talk in Fowler Deutsch Conference Room

1:15–2 pm:
Book signing and light refreshments in the Courtyard

RSVP