Libyan deportees on the Italian island of Ustica: Remembering colonial deportations in the (peripheral) metropole

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Abstract

In 1911, the Italian liberal government launched the colonial occupation of what is now known as Libya, which was met with unexpected local resistance. The government resorted to mass deportations to the metropole to sedate the resistance, which continued for more than two decades under both the liberal and Fascist regimes. This chapter of Europe’s and Italy’s colonial history has been almost entirely removed from collective memory. The article explores the extent to which colonial deportations are remembered on the Sicilian Island of Ustica, which witnessed the deportation from Libya of more than 2000 people. Currently, the island is home to the only cemetery in Italy that is entirely dedicated to Libyan deportees. I argue that the visits of Libyan delegations, which took place from the late 1980s to 2010, succeeded in challenging colonial aphasia at the local level. Yet, as a result of Ustica’s peripheral position within the national space, the memory work developed through the encounter between local and Libyan actors remained marginal, despite its potential to redefine the Mediterranean as a symbolic space where colonial histories are articulated and remembered. Italy’s outsourcing of the memory work in relation to colonial deportations implies a missed opportunity to interrogate the postcolonial present and thus question persistent dynamics of power in Europe that exclude the constructed Other.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)129-146
Number of pages18
JournalMemory Studies
Volume18
Issue number1
Early online date4 Feb 2024
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 4 Feb 2024

Funding

The author disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The pictures included in this article were taken during a research trip to Ustica in April 2023, funded by a BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grant (Round 2022, SRG22\220210).

FundersFunder number
BA/LeverhulmeSRG22\220210

    Keywords

    • Italy
    • Libya
    • Ustica
    • colonial deportations
    • colonial memories

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
    • Cultural Studies
    • Social Psychology

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