'Anthropology and the politics of race in Italian colonial Eritrea (1890-1941)', in the series Senior Research Symposium, will be held on Friday 19 May at 18:00 at the Library, University of Malta Valletta Campus.
The speaker is Dr Barbara Sorgoni (University of Turin).
This Senior Research Symposium series is organised by the Department of Anthropological Studies at the Faculty of Arts.
Differently from other European countries, the 'colonial part' of Italian history has been poorly studied until very recently. In particular, and for various reasons, the analysis of the relationship between anthropological knowledge and the political and juridical government of the colonial context has long been considered non-relevant.
The Seminar aims to show, on the contrary, how a study of such an important relationship proves the relevance of ethnographic knowledge produced in the colonial time by both academics and 'men on the spot' in shaping the legal, political and social national and colonial context, and conversely how the late fascist regime strongly influenced (and was supported by) the new 'anthropology of the race'.
The Seminar aims to show, on the contrary, how a study of such an important relationship proves the relevance of ethnographic knowledge produced in the colonial time by both academics and 'men on the spot' in shaping the legal, political and social national and colonial context, and conversely how the late fascist regime strongly influenced (and was supported by) the new 'anthropology of the race'.