Ricerc@Sapienza

Legacies? ?of? ?colonialism? ?challenge? ?history? ?education? ?in? ?many? ?nation? ?states,? ?which? ?are? ?coping with? ?memories? ?of? ?their? ?past? ?either? ?as? ?settlers? ?or? ?as? ?colonized? ?people.? ?Among? ?those? ?engaged? ?in the? ?post-colonial? ?reconstruction? ?of? ?their? ?colonial? ?past,? ?Italy? ?offers? ?an? ?interesting? ?case? ?study: memories? ?of? ?serious? ?war? ?crimes? ?committed? ?by? ?the? ?Italian? ?Army? ?during? ?its? ?colonial? ?invasions have? ?been? ?self-censored? ?for? ?a? ?very? ?long? ?time,? ?and? ?even? ?Italian? ?history? ?textbooks? ?didn’t? ?include information? ?on? ?these? ?wrongdoings? ?until? ?quite? ?recently.? ?A? ?quanti-qualitative? ?analysis? ?of? ?seven textbooks? ?in? ?use? ?from? ?the? ?beginning? ?of? ?2000? ?and? ?addressed? ?to? ?students? ?attending? ?the? ?last? ?year of? ?Italian? ?high? ?school? ?showed? ?that? ?only? ?few? ?pages? ?of? ?these? ?present-day? ?history? ?texts? ?were dedicated? ?to? ?narrating? ?the? ?colonial? ?invasions.? ?Moreover,? ?colonial? ?wars? ?are? ?described? ?as? ?a? ?short period? ?or? ?even? ?as? ?an? ?adventure,? ?intrinsically? ?linked? ?solely? ?to? ?the? ?Fascist? ?regime? ?(Leone? ?& Mastrovito,? ?2010).? ?The? ?research? ?presented? ?in? ?the? ?paper? ?builds? ?on? ?this? ?previous? ?research.? ?Its corpus? ?is? ?composed? ?of? ?the? ?same? ?seven? ?textbooks,? ?which? ?were? ?chosen? ?by? ?Italian? ?historians? ?as particularly? ?representative? ?of? ?present-day? ?history? ?teaching.? ?The? ?present? ?study? ?takes? ?into? ?account texts? ?and? ?visuals? ?(drawings? ?and? ?photographs)? ?used? ?to? ?convey? ?a? ?narrative? ?of? ?Italian? ?colonial? ?past. Texts? ?were? ?analysed? ?according? ?to? ?their? ?level? ?of? ?frankness? ?vs.? ?ambiguity? ?when? ?describing? ?Italian war? ?crimes.? ?Images? ?were? ?analysed? ?reconstructing? ?their? ?documentary? ?information,? ?their? ?reference to? ?text,? ?their? ?labels? ?and? ?explanation? ?if? ?any.? ?The? ?hermeneutic? ?analysis? ?of? ?the? ?visual? ?elements? ?was supported? ?by? ?these? ?contextual? ?information.? ?Results? ?show? ?how? ?texts? ?and? ?images? ?composing? ?the history? ?manuals? ?seem? ?to? ?operate? ?at? ?a? ?very? ?different? ?level.? ?While? ?texts? ?critically? ?reassess? ?and re-evaluate? ?these? ?episodes? ?of? ?the? ?national? ?past,? ?images? ?are? ?still? ?deeply? ?mirroring? ?the? ?point? ?of view? ?of? ?the? ?colonial? ?propaganda,? ?as? ?if? ?suggesting? ?a? ?somehow? ?nostalgic? ?re-imagining? ?of? ?colonial relations.