Alessandro Triulzi

DISPLACING THE COLONIAL EVENT: Hybrid Memories of Postcolonial Italy

The essay intends to contribute to the current debate on the failure of Italian public memory to come to terms with its colonial past. Several authors have argued that Italian public memory is under the weight of an oppressive historical amnesia which seals off the country from its colonial past. Yet the present reconfiguring of Italys colonial memory conceals displacements and dislocations which are no less pervasive or disquieting. Colonial memory in Italy may be described as a sort of ‘pendulum’ oscillating between an all-out desire to forget and the nostalgic recollection of a past which is selectively remembered and re-enacted to suit Italys new role in the postcolonial age. Given its oscillating nature, colonial memory and its renewed positioning are like back-up files which can be accessed according to convenience or factuality. The recent influx of African migrants trying to break into the fortified European citadel offers an example of this process. As wave after wave of ex-colonial subjects escape difficult situations at home and seek refuge in present-day Italy, an idealized and assertive colonial memory is being revived among the Italian public. Feelings of cultural and racial superiority are thus re-emerging within Italian society and dictate the terms of the new postcolonial encounter between the ex-metropolitan citizens and the disenfranchised ex-colonial subjects who have come to live among them. In many ways, the ‘striking back’ of the empire is no less controversial for Italian society than it is for ex-Italian Africa, where the debate on the colonial past has been revived, particularly during the recent conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea over the old colonial border separating the two countries. The essay discusses a few examples of the ambiguous displacements of colonial memory within both Italian society and Italys ex-colonies. It discusses in particular forms of whitewashing the colonial past aimed at creating an all-endorsing and sanitized ‘shared memory’ to suit feelings of belonging and national unity in both the Italian metropolis and its ex-colonies.

Trade, Islam, and the Mahdia in Northwestern Wallaggā Ethiopia

The district of Belā Shangul, in the northwestern corner of the present Governorate-General of Wallaggā, Ethiopia, has played a crucial role in the introduction of Islam in western Ethiopia. The present paper attempts to show how the commercial potential of Belā Shangul was the reason for the peaceful penetration of Islam in the region in the nineteenth century, thus creating the basis for the ready acceptance of the Mahdia by the Islamized ruling families of the region later. It is due to the considerable inroads that Islam had made in the region that the first Mahdist envoys were welcomed there, and that they could operate freely from 1882 onwards. The paper further discusses the importance of Mahdist presence in the region, its impact on local society, and its attempts to penetrate the Oromo countries south and east of Belā Shangul. It argues that Mahdist rule over the region was effective until about 1890, and that the favourable attitude shown towards the Mahdia by the regions ruling families became more hostile mainly because of the harsh rule established in Belā Shangul by the Mahdist commander, Khalīl al-Khuzāni, and of the new militant Islam he introduced in the region. Khalīls campaign of 1886 and Mahdist raids in 1888–90 further alienated the local rulers, who rebelled under the leadership of ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān of Belā Shangul proper. The reported cession of this district by the Khalifa to Menilek of Ethiopia must be seen in the political context of the time: the border district had become too burdensome for Omdurman to rule, yet its commercial and mineral resources made it too valuable to remain a no mans land.

Memories and Migrant Voices between Colony and Postcolony

Da qualche anno lavoro insieme a un gruppo di volontari, ricercatori e educatori in una rete progettuale tesa a favorire l’ascolto, l’auto-rappresentazione e la raccolta di memorie, narrazioni e testimonianze di persone migranti in provenienza soprattutto dalle regioni del Corno d’Africa. Scopo della ricerca e favorire e diffondere una maggiore consapevolezza delle grandi questioni che si celano dietro la questione migrante in Italia e dare spazio autonomo alle voci narranti dei diretti interessati nella necessaria ricostruzione/ricomposizione delle loro identita in cammino.