Africa is in front of us

ASERI is pleased to present the volume

Africa is in front of us.
An Italian history from colonialism to third-worldism.
Leila El-Houssi
Carocci publisher

Monday 11 October, 6.30 pm
in ASERI (Via San Vittore 18) and ONLINE

Introduces:
Prof. Vittorio Emanuele Parsi, ASERI Director

Speakers:
Prof. Leila El-Houssi, Sapienza University of Rome
Prof. Michela Mercuri, Niccolò Cusano University

Although our cities are "invaded" by monuments, buildings and a toponymy of African origin, many do not know about Italy's centuries-old relations with this continent. The result is a one-way memory that has inexorably produced stereotypes, preconceptions and clichés and has given rise to phenomena of intolerance towards other cultures. The author tells the story of these ties by bringing to light some peculiar moments: from the desire for Italian expansion to that phase, between the fifties and sixties, animated by an ideality towards the African continent. Thanks to an in-depth bibliographic research and the consultation of documents from the Historical Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Historical Archives of the Presidency of the Republic, the volume intends to reconnect the threads of a complex and at times paradoxical history.

Leila El Houssi teaches African history and institutions in the Department of Political Science of the Sapienza University of Rome. He deals with history, migrations, cultures and gender issues in the African continent in the contemporary age. Author of numerous articles in Italian and foreign magazines and volumes, she has published the awakening of democracy for Carocci editore. Tunisia from independence to transition (2019) and The scream against the regime. Italian anti-fascists in Tunisia between the two wars (2014), winner of the Matteotti prize and the Saverio Nitti prize for the Mediterranean.

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