Ricerc@Sapienza

The Extraordinary African Chambers (‘EAC’) were opened in Dakar, Senegal, on 8 February 2013 and mandated to prosecute Chad’s former Head of State (→ Heads of State), Hissène Habré (also spelled Hissen Habré or Hissein Habré), for the international crimes committed in Chad from 7 June 1982 to 1 December 1990.

Abstract: This contribution discusses the pragmatic effects of different rhetoric strategies conveying evidence of past ingroup violence after a long lasting social denial (Cohen, 2001). In particular, a case study is presented on the making of a civic discourse on controversial historical past: war crimes committed by the Italian Army during the colonial invasion of Ethiopia (1935-36). Although very well proved (Del Boca, 2005), these facts were only recently inserted in Italian history textbooks (Leone & Mastrovito, 2010; Cajani, 2013).