Un tríptico sobre objetos desterrados. Razón colonial y sueños poscoloniales

This paper reflects on objects that were exiled from their territories in the last decades of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century in Filandia (Quindío), the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Magdalena), and San Agustín (Huila), all departments of Colombia. These objects comprise the so-called Quimbaya Treasure exhibited in the Museum of the Americas in Madrid (Spain), the statues of the sculpting people of San Agustín housed in the Ethnological Museum of Berlin (Germany), and two kogui masks that have already been returned. Although the three groups are part of a triptych articulated by the idea of repatriation each of them experiences its own process. Through a documentary review their particularities are presented and considerations are raised regarding the (im)possibility of their return to Colombian territory. These cases are framed within the colonial rationale that establishes concessions with peoples who are still considered subordinate. Therefore, its resolution, or not, is articulated with the postcolonial dream of renewing colonial relations with the peoples in the global south.