Student

Toi Moko is the tattooed, severed heads of Maori Chiefs, warriors and later, slaves. The heads were traded with Europeans in the early 1800’s for materials and muskets to defend their tribes. The trade became very dangerous and people were beginning to get killed for having a Moko. The trade stopped in the late 1840’s for this reason. The New Zealand government would like these heads returned as they are the human remains of their ancestors, though France were not willing to send them back as they had a law against the return of such items.
The conflict around Toi Moko began in the 2000’s before the reopening on the museum of national history in Rouen, France, when a head was discovered in the inventory. Pierre Albertini, mayor of Rouen proposed for the return of the head to New Zealand, however, the French culture ministry soon put a stop to that plan. France has a blanket policy considering everything in its museums as Frances national heritage, and for fear that the return of this head would mean more demands of repatriation for more prized or valuable objects. Maori had been asking for the heads to be returned for two decades before this conflict began.
Michelle Hippolyte, a Maori spiritual leader and co-director of TePapa said that the heads should be returned because they are human remains. “While Toi Moko have been curiosities for the public to enjoy, they are still our ancestors. This journey is about reuniting the Toi Moko with its home land.” However the legal advisor for to the culture ministry, Oliver Henrard, did not agree saying that the heads do not need to be returned to New Zealand. He said, “Today it’s a Maori head, but tomorrow it could be a mummy in the Louvre.”
A social force that leads to the law change in France allowing the heads to be returned to New Zealand was lobbying. Catherine Morin-Desailly, French senator lobbied for 5 years for the return on the heads. Others who thought the repatriation would cause other countries to ask for