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Fascism, Imperialism, and the Reclamation of Italian Masculinity From Ethiopia, 1935-1941

Latessa, Amy K
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6865-8701
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1563271975300552

Abstract Details

2019, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture.
This dissertation is a study of the trajectory of thoughts (ideology) conveyed by the propaganda postcards, photographs, and sketches that were prepared by the Italian army for the specific purpose of inspiring the soldiers, and for garnering support from the population at large in the war efforts to avenge the defeat of the country in the battle of Adwa, Ethiopia (formerly Abyssinia), in 1896. Although the ultimate goal for the creation of the images was the establishment of an Italian empire in the footsteps adopted by the major European powers (England, France, Belgium, and Portugal) that already had large imperial domains in the continent, the ambitions of the leaders who sponsored the thoughts contained in the images were multipronged. Photographed and sketched from 1935, the propaganda images were also intended to cheer the invasion that would reclaim the masculinity that was believed to be lost during the defeat in Adwa in 1896, to show that the Italian military can win battles against opposing armies, emphasize the contrasts between Italians and Ethiopians through an encompassing cultural civilizing mission, and to reinforce Fascist binding ideologies in the Italian homeland. The return of Italy to Ethiopia in 1935 was to revenge the 1896 defeat and reestablish its African empire. In the History of the continent, late nineteenth century was a crucial moment that was known as the “Scramble for Africa,” because it was another late stage in Europe’s expansion of capitalism by means of conquering territories and administering them as colonies following the 1886 Berlin Conference when the great powers in Europe carved out spheres of influences for their countries. Italy’s march into Africa in the early twentieth century was grounded in the historical glory of the earlier Roman Empire that covered all of the Mediterranean, and the ideas of the past were integrated into the twentieth-century adventure through military conquest, parades, technology, and buildings. The objective of this dissertation is to examine the ideological contents of the motivational propaganda images that were prepared for the army and the citizens of the country at large in the Italian State’s pursuit of empire in the Horn of Africa in the first three decades of the twentieth century. It will be shown that the artists and the photographers who were officially commissioned by the Italian military propaganda division wanted to tell the stories of ancient Italian conquests, Italian male masculinity, military power, and Italian cultural superiority. The artists and photographers achieved their visual narratives by evoking long established and well-known European historical, stereotypical, dehumanizing, violent views of Africans, as guiding thoughts for furthering the goal of reestablishing an African empire just like England, France, Belgium, and Portugal. An overt text within the narrative was the belief that their Roman ancestors once ruled the Mediterranean so they too could do it again in the twentieth century and beyond.
Aarati Kanekar, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Flavia Maria Cunha Bastos, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
William Williams, M.Arch. (Committee Member)
330 p.
Architecture
Italian colonialism; Ethiopia; East Africa; built environment; visual culture; masculinity

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Latessa, A. K. (2019). Fascism, Imperialism, and the Reclamation of Italian Masculinity From Ethiopia, 1935-1941 [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1563271975300552

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Latessa, Amy. Fascism, Imperialism, and the Reclamation of Italian Masculinity From Ethiopia, 1935-1941. 2019. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1563271975300552.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Latessa, Amy. "Fascism, Imperialism, and the Reclamation of Italian Masculinity From Ethiopia, 1935-1941." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1563271975300552

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1563271975300552
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© 2019, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Fascism, Imperialism, and the Reclamation of Italian Masculinity From Ethiopia, 1935-1941 by Amy K Latessa is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.