Colonialismo italiano e questione meridionale: amnesie, memorie competitive e alleanze intersezionali ai margini di una comunità immaginata bianca1

Abstract

This article examines the intertwined histories of “internal colonialism” in Southern Italy and Italian colonialism in Africa, addressing the question of Italy’s national amnesia in relation to these topics. Drawing on Michael Rothberg’s “multidirectional memory” framework, the essay explores how the two historical issues mentioned above risk becoming competitive memories in contemporary public history debates. To develop this argument, the essay presents two case studies. The first is Pino Aprile’s Contro l’oblio. Giorno della Memoria per le vittime meridionali dell’Unità d’Italia. The book exemplifies competitive memory in the broader context of the neo-Bourbon approach to the Southern Question. The literal use of concepts such as colonialism and racism as metaphors for the Southern Italian condition risks creating self-apologetic narratives driven by “white anxiety,” absolving Southern Italians from their historical involvement in colonialism and contemporary racial privileges. The second case study examines the Museo Cesare Lombroso in Turin as an archive of Italian antiblackness. This section proposes the museum as a potential site for multidirectional memories, focusing on the interplay between the racialized representation of Southern Italians and Italian colonial racism. The goal is to articulate these two memories without overlapping them, emphasizing different historical responsibilities and contemporary privileges. The article underscores why intersectionality and positionality are critical to analyze the complexities of racial and colonial histories and their relevance to contemporary social justice struggles.