The Looting Lab is an interdisciplinary research hub for the study of looted cultural heritage based at the University of Toronto developing innovative solutions to cultural dispossession, loss, and restitution.
“Loot” comes from the Hindustani word lūṭ, which describes theft and banditry as well as dispossession, destruction, and plunder. We use this concept to unite critical heritage conversations across fields and methodologies.
Upcoming Events & Activities
TALK & WORKSHOP - CSACH x Looting Lab
Books, Swords, and Holy Relics: the Colonial Looting of South Asia
The Looting Lab is pleased to partner with the Centre for South Asian Critical Humanities for a talk and workshop on looted South Asian heritage by Dr. Nur Sobers-Khan, curator and scholar of dispersed South Asian heritage.
Event description:
In this special two-part event, Dr. Nur Sobers-Khan, former Lead Curator for South Asian Collections at the British Library, will explore the entangled histories of colonial conquest and cultural plunder across South Asia. The talk will trace three major cases—the Delhi Collection, material looted from Tipu Sultan's court, and Tibetan artifacts seized during the Younghusband Expedition—uncovering how books, weapons, and sacred objects were taken and circulated through imperial networks, followed by a workshop on theoretical and methodological approaches to researching contested heritage using scattered archives, incomplete metadata, and digital tools.