Italian Colonialism in the Making of National Consciousness: Representations of African Natives

This paper proposes a critical investigation of the discursive constructions supporting the othering of the African native in both the liberal and Fascist phases of Italian colonialism. It focuses on the production of narratives describing African populations and investigates their participation in the crystallization of a self/other dichotomy, to frame the participation of colonialism in the development of the Italian national consciousness from the late 19th century onwards. The research addresses the experiences and comments of explorers, journalists, jurists and relevant personalities of the colonial administration to tackle what they thought of their African counterparts, and how they portrayed them to the Italian public. In particular, the paper recognizes the existence of a plurality of othering categories and stereotypes attributed to African populations and addresses their development and transformation alongside the socio-political transformation of Italian nationalism and Italian colonialism.