Although Ariella Aïsha Azoulay’s book Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism was published prior to the events of summer 2020, her discussion is timely in its relevance. While this was certainly not the first-time questions of object repatriation have been brought up in critiques of imperial looting and calls to decolonize the museum, these events spurred renewed conversations about where these objects belong, institutional transparency about the acquisition of their objects, and the role of institutions in colonial and neo-colonial histories and contemporary realities. As criticisms of looting rose in some circles, others responded, pointing toward museum institutions, noting that encyclopedic institutions’ collections are constituted from looted objects. After the looting of a Minneapolis Target store, and subsequently other businesses throughout the country, many conversations turned to what sorts of protests and acts of resistance are deemed permissible. The 2020 protests in the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and a seemingly ever-growing list of Black lives taken by White police officers and armed civilians brought about a resurgence to the public fore of discussions around race and racism in America, from our police force to our cultural institutions. Book Review: Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism, by Ariella A ï sha Azoulay (New York: Verso, 2019)

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