(Counter-)Narratives of Violence. Colonial Legacies and Activism in Italy’s Public Spaces

Abstract

Even though the Italian colonial empire was relatively small and short-lived (compared to others, such as the British or French), it left numerous material traces in the public spaces of Italian cities. For decades, no one was interested in the monuments and street names that celebrated longgone expeditions and military ventures. Since 2015, however, this has changed. This article examines how dominant discourses of colonial violence manifested in public spaces during the liberal and fascist eras and how collectives have challenged these narratives through the use of various strategies in recent years.

Keywords

• colonialism,
• public space
• memory
• violence
• activism
• Italy