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Italian Colonialism
Italian Colonialism is a pioneering anthology of texts by scholars from seven countries who represent the best of classical and newer approaches to the study of Italian colonization. Essays on the political, economic, and military aspects of Italian colonialism are featured alongside works that reflect the insights of anthropology, race and gender studies, film, architecture, and oral and cultural history. The volume includes many essays by Italian and African scholars that have never been translated into English. It is a unique resource that offers students and scholars a comprehensive view of the field.
266 pages, Paperback
First published November 23, 2002
About the author
Ruth Ben-Ghiat
6 books161 followersRuth Ben-Ghiat is an internationally acclaimed historian, speaker, and political commentator for the Atlantic, CNN, the Washington Post, and other publications. She is a professor of history and Italian studies at New York University and lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 12, 2018
This book contains a large collection of short articles on Italian colonialism, and single-handedly draws you in to all the main debates and areas of research of this field. In Part I and Part II we get articles that concern political history, with studies of the concentration camps used in Libya and the role of the air force in the Ethiopian War. Parts III to V contain case-studies that illuminate the ideological aspect of Italy's colonial project, along with fascinating examinations of the legacy of the empire. This is a very useful survey.
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January 19, 2023I shouldn’t laugh at these stories of Italian colonization, but the brutality of these regimes cannot be divorced from the pathetic state of the Italian nation. The concentration camps and the gas attacks, the colonial atrocities, are the bully tactics of a people that surrender as soon as someone stronger stares them down. The “proletariat nation” rages that the old imperial powers get to exploit the African continent, and it asks why it cannot use the same violence to build its own colonial empire. Obviously, it justifies itself with the twin narratives of internal economic development and the civilizing mission, but though that civilizing mission is always a tool for control (though I suspect those who repeat it to personal gain oftentimes believe it) with the Italians, it sounds like a joke. Some luck, getting civilized by the Italians.
The highpoint of this collection of essays is the sublime scene of the impoverished Italian colonizers, begging confused Ethiopian passerby’s for spare change in the outskirts of Addis Ababa. History is poetry.
The highpoint of this collection of essays is the sublime scene of the impoverished Italian colonizers, begging confused Ethiopian passerby’s for spare change in the outskirts of Addis Ababa. History is poetry.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews