'We Will Never Leave.' The Reale Accademia d'Italia and the Invention of a Fascist Africanism

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

At the beginning of November 1938 the Reale Accademia d'Italia, the official cultural institution of the Italian Fascist regime, organized a conference on Africa. Mussolini himself had chosen the theme for the conference and major Italian political figures, such as De Vecchi and Balbo, delivered papers, together with French, English and German politicians and scholars. The conference, organized in the same year of Hitler's visit to Italy and of the introduction of the new racial laws, could have offered the cultural justification for a foreign policy alternative to the German turn taken by the regime. Only Mussolini's last minute decision not to attend transformed the Convegno Volta on Africa from a potential alternative foreign policy into a forum where the dissenting voices within the regime voiced their opposition to German style racism.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)161-182
Number of pages22
JournalFascism
Volume2
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013

Keywords

  • Fascist Africanism
  • Fascist colonialism
  • Italian Fascism
  • Reale Accademia d'Italia
  • anti-Semitism
  • racism

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • History
  • Sociology and Political Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of ''We Will Never Leave.' The Reale Accademia d'Italia and the Invention of a Fascist Africanism'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this