http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
ancient Rome and modern Italy's African colonies
1 online resource (ix, 301 pages) : illustrations.
This is a full-length study on how Italian colonialism in Africa used the history of Roman imperialism on the continent to legitimise and promote its own imperial endeavours. Agbamu looks at a broad range of cultural documents to examine how the discourse of colonialism as 'the return of Rome' to land rightfully Italian was disseminated.
"The histories of Europe and Africa are closely intertwined. At times, this closeness has been emphasized, at other times, suppressed and denied. Since the nineteenth century, European imperial powers have carved up the continent of Africa among themselves, drawing borders and charting shorelines; in the process, inventing Africa. This was a project anchored in ancient Greek and Roman representations of Africa. For Italy, colonialism in Africa was a matter of consolidating its project of national unification, nominally completed in 1870 with the capture of Rome. By asserting its position as an imperial power, the young nation of Italy hoped to join the club of European nation-states and, in so doing, be rid of the perception that it was a country somewhere in between Europe and Africa. Yet, Italy's colonial endeavour in Africa was also a project with deep historical meaning. Italy posed its imperial project in Africa as a national return to territory which was rightfully Italian. Italian ideologues of imperialism based this claim on the history of Roman history on the continent. When Italian soldiers disembarked on the beaches of Libya during Italy's invasion of 1911-1912, and came across the ruins of Roman imperialism, they were, according to prominent cultural and political figures in Italy, rediscovering the traces of their ancestors. Yet, when Italian imperial ambitions set their sights on East Africa, regions that had not been conquered by Rome, how could Italy nevertheless shape its imperial project in the image of ancient Rome? This book charts this story. Beginning with Italy's first imperial endeavours on the African continent in the last decades of the nineteenth century and continuing right through to Italy's current attitudes towards Africa, this book argues that empire in Africa was a central aspect of Italian nation-building, and that this was a project which anchored itself in memories of ancient Rome in Africa. Although Fascism's invasion of Ethiopia (1935-1936) is the best-known moment of Italian imperialism in Africa, this book shows that Italian imperialism, modelled on ancient Rome, has a history which long predates Mussolini's movement, and has a legacy which continues to be acutely felt."--
Introduction. Reinventing Africa ; The nation and the narcissism of antiquity ; Romanità ; Italian Fascism -- The Fall of Italia Risorta: Ethiopia, Roman Africa, and the Invention of Italy. Imperialist overtures in Ethiopia: Britain, Egypt, and Ethiopia, 1841-1871 ; Monumentalizing defeat: The Battle of Dogali, 1887 ; The history of Italy until Dogali -- 'There, Too, Is Rome': The Roman Empire and the Conquest of Libya. The odysseys of Corradini, Tumiati, and Pascoli in Roman Africa ; Childhood 'Nostoi' to Roman Africa ; Italian imperialism in universal history ; Italian unification -- Modernizing Antiquity: Decadence and Futurism in Roman Africa. Back to the future: Africa and Marinetti's modernist moment ; Gabriele D'Annunzio : Modernizing Roman Africa ; 'Più che l'amore' : A modern tragedy ; Blood and iron: Nostalgic fulfilment in Libya -- Technology and Power: Screening Imperialism in Giovanni Pastrone's 'Cabiria' (1914). 'Cabiria''s moment ; Vulcan's new light? Creative and destructive fires of modernity ; Representation of 'race' in 'Cabiria' ; Gendering the nation ; Modernity and the masses ; National returns -- Redeeming 'Italia Irredenta': Fascism's March on Africa. The First World War and the rise of Fascism ; The Aventine secession and the forging of Fascist hegemony ; The 'pacification of Cyrenaica' ; 'Ritorno di Roma' ; The Codex Fori Mussolini -- Italia tandem imperium habet suum: Fascist Italy's Roman Empire. Casus belli ; Rome's civilizing mission ; The Roman Empire, reborn ; The Obelisk of Axum -- Carmine Gallone's 'Scipione l'Africano': Restaging Rome, Reincarnating Romanità. The afterlives of Scipio Africanus in the Italian cultural imaginary ; The reality effect of 'Scipione' ; Fascist imperialism in 'Scipione l'Africano' ; Gendering Fascist imperialism in 'Scipione l'Africano' -- The 'Arco dei Fileni': The Realization of Romanità in Africa. The 'Strada Litoranea': an 'Opera Romana' ; Mussolini's 1937 visit to Libya ; Inscribing the 'blank space' of Libya ; The 'Arco dei Fileni' ; The Philaeni brothers : In praise of Rome's arch-enemies ; The 'Fascistization' of the Philaeni ; The afterlives of the Philaeni brothers -- The Decline and Fall of the Fascist Empire. Racism and the radicalization of romanità ; Exhibitions ; The epic of defeat ; Post-war reckonings? -- Conclusion: Memories of 'Mare Nostrum'.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2024]