This contemporary Nkisi is borrowed from the British Museum. A Nkisi is an object that inhabits supernatural powers. The Royal Kongo People had a variety of sculptures like this to favor good spirits and prevent bad spirits from entering their homes. These statues were seen in Kongo during the early nineteenth century until the British Museum, in its quest for cultural imperialism, brought all of them to ‘safety’ in various European museums. In their defense, they stated: “If these cultural rarities are kept in their countries of origin, they’ll undoubtedly be lost forever in civil wars, natural disasters, the erosion of respect for artifact conservation, and the general wasteland of culture. It is of high educational and cultural importance that the British public should enjoy these exotic artifacts without having to journey to Africa, risking AIDS, typhoid, malaria, and sunburn.”