Conversations on Europe. "Between Empire and Gaddafi: Italian Settlers in Libya, 1943-1960."

Experiences of Italians in Libya

Pamela Ballinger, Fred Cuny Professor of the History of Human Rights, and associate professor of history, University of Michigan.
Abstract: Although the end of Italian colonialism is often treated as abrupt and definitive as a result of Italy's military defeat in World War II, Italian settlers remained in Libya until their expulsion by the Gaddafi regime in 1970. In this talk, Professor Ballinger examines the experiences of Italians in the rural villages created under fascism, the complicated processes of repatriation, and the ways in which settlers found their mobilities similarly constrained during and after the colonial era. She will argue that reconceptualizing the end of empire in Libya as a "long" decolonization enables us to see marked continuities in the experiences of Italians in rural Libya.
Part of "The Connecting Sea: Charting the Mediterranean across the Disciplines."
Free and open to the public.