In the summer of 2023, Niharika had the privilege to attend the ‘Who Owns the Past: African Bay Museum’ course in Stanford Summer Humanities Institute Pre-Collegiate Program. Having been the youngest and the only Indian graduate of the program, she delved deep into the debate regarding the repatriation of African art from American and British Museums. Some of the themes explored were the nature of art and its evolution, colonisation of the African continent, legal, ethical, and philosophical considerations for repatriation whilst drawing connections to modern thought.

Under the guidance of Professor Joel Cabrita, Associate Professor African History at Stanford, and Stanford Graduate Teaching Assistants, Niharika published a hypothetical memo outlining the rationale for restitution to Nigeria of a ceremonial fan for the Oshun, currently observed at the DeYoung Museum (found below). The memo, upon receiving immense appreciation from the class and professor, and its process challenged Niharika to read academic journals on iconoclasm, primitivism and imperialism written by prominent American, British, and African academicians as well as bring forth a South Asian perspective to the debate. It was later published in University Grant Comission’s (Ministry of Education, Government of India) Anthropological Semi Annual Journal in 2024.