Suchergebnisse

Alla fine del sec. XV, gli Europei scopritori dell'Africa occidentale trovarono che il cavallo era impiegato nel Benin e nei vicini paesi yoruba. Poiché non si conosce l'esistenza di antenati selvatici dell'Equus caballus in questa o in alcuna altra zona dell'Africa, si trattava di equini importati. Sulla base di argomenti zoologici, archeologici, storici ed etnologici, il presente articolo intende chiarire tempi e modi di tale introduzione.Il cavallo e anche qui essenzialmente animale da guerra e simbolo di prestigio sociale: il suo arrivo, dall'Africa settentrionale per via del Sahara, è connesso con l'impiego del carro da guerra. L'A. discute brevemente le questioni della iniziale domesticazione equina, dell'uso e della diffusione dei carri ippotrainati, delle singolari raffigurazioni di questi nello stile del «galoppo volante» tipico dell'arte minoico-micenea e presente tra l'altro nelle figurazioni rupestri sahariane; e delle presumibili relazioni commerciali che dovettero indirettamente collegare quest'ultima area, e quella del Mediterraneo occidentale nell'eta del bronzo, con le zone oltre il Sahara. Di qui, secondo l'A., giunse il cavallo nel bacino del Niger, mentre piu deboli sono considerate le possibilita di connessione degli stati dell'Africa occidentale con Kush e Meroe. Se però l'evidenza archeologica suggerisce per tali contatti epoche non posteriori al II millennio a.C., queste appaiono di molto anteriori ai tempi in cui si presume siano sorti in Africa occidentale stati in grado di sfruttare corpi di caval- leria: il piu antico stato locale di cui si abbia notizia, il Ghana, non risale a prima del IV sec. d.C. Fra le ipotesi relative al destino del cavallo in queste zone durante il lungo e oscuro intervallo, l'A. tende a scartare quella di un rinselvatichimento della specie come si sa essere avvenuto in America; egli pensa piuttosto a un uso del cavallo come animale da sacrificio, o a un suo persistente impiego per il traino di carri; meno probabile il suo uso come cavalcatura, prevalso poi in epoca moderna. La piu antica varieta di Equus presente in Africa occidentale sarebbe infatti, secondo l'A., una razza di ponies di piccole dimensioni, poco atta a essere cavalcata; piu tardo sarebbe l'arrivo della piu robusta varieta berbera, di quella araba, di quella dongolana. Comunque impiegato agli inizi, il cavallo contribuì a trasformare in senso militare le ancor piccole comunita dell'area sudanese-guineana viventi di coltivazione e allevamento di tipo «neolitico»; e i contatti trans-sahariani che accompagnarono l'introduzione del nuovo nobile animale dovettero incoraggiare la fondazione dei primi stati della zona.

International audience ; Present Italian studies on Africa go beyond regional and disciplinary divides of the past. The trend is towards a positive transgression of previous boundaries, and scholars have shifted attention from the disciplinary approach to the transdisciplinaryand inter-disciplinary research. However, elements and trends of the past still influence the relationship between Berber literary studies and African literary studies in Italy. This paper offers a first reflection on the long-term relationships between Africanist studies and studies on Berber literature by taking into account conjunctures and disjunctures in the complex construction of the geographical and cultural notions of (and divide between) 'Africa' and 'North Africa'.The aim is to understand specificity and continuity of the relationship betweenBerber studies and Africanist studies in Italy when compared to international studies.Looking at the Italian studies of Berber literature, one finds a strong influence of the linguistic and philological approaches. Moreover, one recognizes the tendency of the studies to look 'East' rather than 'South' in establishing their cultural and political framework of reference. On the other hand, studies that give attention to new developments in Berber written literature spring usually from African 'post-colonial' literary studies. However, the situation is also evolving in the specific field of Italian Berber studies.

International audience ; Present Italian studies on Africa go beyond regional and disciplinary divides of the past. The trend is towards a positive transgression of previous boundaries, and scholars have shifted attention from the disciplinary approach to the transdisciplinaryand inter-disciplinary research. However, elements and trends of the past still influence the relationship between Berber literary studies and African literary studies in Italy. This paper offers a first reflection on the long-term relationships between Africanist studies and studies on Berber literature by taking into account conjunctures and disjunctures in the complex construction of the geographical and cultural notions of (and divide between) 'Africa' and 'North Africa'.The aim is to understand specificity and continuity of the relationship betweenBerber studies and Africanist studies in Italy when compared to international studies.Looking at the Italian studies of Berber literature, one finds a strong influence of the linguistic and philological approaches. Moreover, one recognizes the tendency of the studies to look 'East' rather than 'South' in establishing their cultural and political framework of reference. On the other hand, studies that give attention to new developments in Berber written literature spring usually from African 'post-colonial' literary studies. However, the situation is also evolving in the specific field of Italian Berber studies.

Utilizzando fonti della più diversa tipologia (liturgiche, agiografiche, storiche, letterarie, archeologiche ed epigrafiche), lo studio condotto sulla Passio s. Prisci e sulla Vita s. Castrensis, entrambe con ogni probabilità composte da monaci benedettini a Capua tra X e XI secolo, si concentra innanzitutto sulle vicende che in quell'arco di tempo resero possibile la permanenza delle comunità di Montecassino e di S. Vincenzo al Volturno nel centro campano e sul riflesso che la loro presenza ebbe sulla vita politica e culturale della città. La Passio s. Prisci acquista una valenza non solo religiosa ma anche politica se messa in relazione con la quasi contemporanea istituzione della metropolia capuana; la Vita s. Castrensis, per la netta prevalenza dell'elemento fantastico e soprannaturale che la caratterizza, appare meno legata alle contingenze storico-politiche e più vicina ai topoi della tradizione agiografica e popolare. I capitoli centrali della tesi sono dedicati alla figura di Quodvultdeus, vescovo cartaginese esiliato dai Vandali nel V secolo, la cui vicenda, narrata da Vittore di Vita nell'Historia persecutionis africanae provinciae ha funto da modello per le agigrafie campane. La ricerca prende dunque in considerazione le fonti letterarie, i ritrovamenti archeologici e le testimonianze epigrafiche che confermerebbero la testimonianza di Vittore, riflettendo inoltre sui rapporti di natura commerciale che nel V secolo intercorsero tra Africa e Campania e sul forte legame esistente, già a partire dal secolo precedente, tra le Chiese delle due regioni, fattori che potrebbero aver facilitato l'arrivo degli esuli cartaginesi a Napoli. L'ultima parte del lavoro è volta a rintracciare le ragioni storiche e letterarie che possono aver spinto gli autori dei testi a trasformare due santi di sicura origine campana in vescovi africani venuti dal mare, favorendo la diffusione del topos nell'agiografia campana medievale. ; This research project examines the Passio s. Prisci and the Vita s. Castrensis, two agiographic works written most probably in a benedictine monastry in Capua between the X and the XI century. Taking into consideration various types of documents, this thesis attempts to investigate the historical context in which these two texts where compiled. The first part of the paper especially concentrates on the events that made possible the presence of the monks of Montecassino and S. Volturno in Capua at the end of IX and most of the X century, reflecting on the influence they had on political and cultural life in the town. The Passio s. Prisci could acquire a religious and political value if it were connected with the institution of the new archiepiscopal seat of Capua, that was founded between 965-966 d.c. The redaction Vita s. Castrensis, on the other hand, appears to have been less influenced by historical and political events and much more connected to the topoi of the hagiographic and popular tradition. The paper also concentrates on the figure of Quodvultdeus, bishop of Carthage exiled by Vandals around 439 d.c. His story is told by Victor of Vita in the Historia Persecutionis Africanae Provinciae, work that was the role model for the Passio s. Prisci and the Vita s. Castrensis. This research examines the possible reasons that could have facilitated the arrive of Quodvultdeus and of other exiles from Carthage to Naples in the V century, evaluating also the literary sources and the archeological data that could prove this. The last part of the work reflects on the historical and literary causes by which Prisco and Castrese, two saints from the region of Campania, have been transformed by their hagiographers in two African bishops that arrived from the sea.

The patriotic movement supporting the president Laurent Gbagbo in the years of the Ivorian political-military crisis, made extensive use of public parliaments popularly known as "agora", in order to mobilize citizens. The orators ("orateurs") animating the agora, offered a day-by-day commentary of political actualities and diffused a virulent anticolonial discourse directed against France (as formerly colonial power) and the "West". Moreover, they proposed narratives of Africans and of their history where afrocentric and panafricanist doctrines are mingled with a religious ideology of deliverance uttered by Pentecostal pastors. In their discourse, "western" narrations of history and their representations of Africans were denounced as rhetoric devices aimed at obviating the recognition of African agency in history. In order to counter them, the orators explicitly constructed regimes of truth with a specific performative power: the power of defining and recreating an imagined african self and its place in history. The enquiry is based on a reflexive ethnographic experience in the agoras of Abidjan. It proceeds though an interpretation of performative utterances of orators and a critical discussion of the identifications and of the logics of positioning and belonging imposed to the ethnographer in such context. ; The patriotic movement supporting the president Laurent Gbagbo in the years of the Ivorian political-military crisis, made extensive use of public parliaments popularly known as "agora", in order to mobilize citizens. The orators ("orateurs") animating the agora, offered a day-by-day commentary of political actualities and diffused a virulent anticolonial discourse directed against France (as formerly colonial power) and the "West". Moreover, they proposed narratives of Africans and of their history where afrocentric and panafricanist doctrines are mingled with a religious ideology of deliverance uttered by Pentecostal pastors. In their discourse, "western" narrations of history and their representations of Africans were denounced as rhetoric devices aimed at obviating the recognition of African agency in history. In order to counter them, the orators explicitly constructed regimes of truth with a specific performative power: the power of defining and recreating an imagined african self and its place in history. The enquiry is based on a reflexive ethnographic experience in the agoras of Abidjan. It proceeds though an interpretation of performative utterances of orators and a critical discussion of the identifications and of the logics of positioning and belonging imposed to the ethnographer in such context.

In this article the author explores the cultural movement called Afrofuturism, tracing its origins, features, simbology, and its historical and political meanings. Starting from the (supposed) discoursive gap between African and African American people on one side and technology and science fiction on the other, this paradigm addresses themes related to the intersection of African Diaspora and African cultures with technology and science fiction, with the aim to recover the history of slavery and racism through the projections into alternative space-time contexts. In particular, the author explores the feminist afrofuturism perspective in order to examine the specific oppression and cultural production of African and African American women. In doing so, the author analyzes the development of afrofuturism in Italy, focusing on the work of the singer and beatmaker Karima 2G.

The research is part of the global history of the Decolonization and Cold War, focusing on the formation and development of the postcolonial states of the former French Sub-Saharan Africa (Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Cameroon, Congo) and on the intervention of the Superpowers in that area. In this regard, the perception of the two most important Western communist parties, the Italian Communist Party and the French Communist Party, allows an original viewing angle to reconstruct the history of African nationalist and Marxist countries and movements. The transnational dynamics that have crossed western and equatorial Africa can be analyzed with a global view resulting from the PCI and PCF, defining their political, social and cultural features. The affinities and theoretical differences between the communist parties and African anti-colonial movements, the divisions in the "socialist camp" and the relations between the PCI and the PCF is an "histoire croisée" referring to the sources produced and preserved by these two political parties. It's a joint supervision PhD by "Tor Vergata" University of Rome and Paris 1 "Panthéon-Sorbonne" University. ; La recherche fait partie d'une histoire globale de la décolonisation et de la guerre froide. Cette histoire est centrée sur l'édification et le développement des états postcoloniaux de l'Afrique subsaharienne francophone (Guinée, Mali, Sénégal, Cameroun et Congo) et sur l'intervention des puissances étrangères dans ce territoire. En ce contexte, la perception des deux partis communistes les plus importants de l'Occident, le Parti communiste français et le Parti communiste italien, témoigne d'un point de vue original à l'égard de l'histoire des pays et des mouvements africains nationalistes et marxistes. Les dynamiques transnationales qui concernaient l'Afrique occidentale et équatoriale sont ici analysées avec la visuelle « globale » montrée par les deux partis communistes européens, ce qui définit leurs caractéristiques politiques, sociales et culturelles. Les similarités et ...

The research is part of the global history of the Decolonization and Cold War, focusing on the formation and development of the postcolonial states of the former French Sub-Saharan Africa (Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Cameroon, Congo) and on the intervention of the Superpowers in that area. In this regard, the perception of the two most important Western communist parties, the Italian Communist Party and the French Communist Party, allows an original viewing angle to reconstruct the history of African nationalist and Marxist countries and movements. The transnational dynamics that have crossed western and equatorial Africa can be analyzed with a global view resulting from the PCI and PCF, defining their political, social and cultural features. The affinities and theoretical differences between the communist parties and African anti-colonial movements, the divisions in the "socialist camp" and the relations between the PCI and the PCF is an "histoire croisée" referring to the sources produced and preserved by these two political parties. It's a joint supervision PhD by "Tor Vergata" University of Rome and Paris 1 "Panthéon-Sorbonne" University. ; La recherche fait partie d'une histoire globale de la décolonisation et de la guerre froide. Cette histoire est centrée sur l'édification et le développement des états postcoloniaux de l'Afrique subsaharienne francophone (Guinée, Mali, Sénégal, Cameroun et Congo) et sur l'intervention des puissances étrangères dans ce territoire. En ce contexte, la perception des deux partis communistes les plus importants de l'Occident, le Parti communiste français et le Parti communiste italien, témoigne d'un point de vue original à l'égard de l'histoire des pays et des mouvements africains nationalistes et marxistes. Les dynamiques transnationales qui concernaient l'Afrique occidentale et équatoriale sont ici analysées avec la visuelle « globale » montrée par les deux partis communistes européens, ce qui définit leurs caractéristiques politiques, sociales et culturelles. Les similarités et les différences entre ces deux partis communistes et les mouvements anticoloniaux africains, ainsi que les fractures internes au « camp socialiste » et les relations entre PCI et PCF constituent une histoire croisée qui fait référence aux sources produites et conservées par ces deux organisations politiques. Il s'agit d'une thèse en cotutelle entre l'Université de Rome « Tor Vergata » et l'Université Paris 1 « Panthéon-Sorbonne ».

Analysing the rise of Southern African middle classes as a specific case study, the aim of this paper is to emphasize the plural and entangled histories of black middle classes within two national contexts. The analysis of the dichotomy between the white rural middle class (as especially recognizable in the history of South African Boers) and the black urban Lumpenproletariat as structuring the political and cultural history both of South Africa and Zimbabwe, in fact, is eventually challenged by the rise of black middle classes in the postcolonial and post-apartheid era. As these processes are rooted in a peculiar habitat such as the farm and exerted through a specific and yet all-encompassing habitus, this paper will retrace these aspects in the history of Southern African literature in English, focusing on recent novels such as John Maxwell Coetzee's Disgrace (1999) and Peter Godwin's When A Crocodile Eats The Sun (2006).

In her article, Bailkin is interested in the embodied presences of empire in the case files and records of the post-war welfare state. She sets out to interrogate the history of decolonization and the strict correlation with families' lives. She wonders also how the new social sciences provided modern modes of interaction between the state and different migrant groups in Great Bretain. Her attention in this article concerns African immigrant students from Nigeria and Ghana and his/her family (when their wifes or husbands and children were in Britain too). Bailkin uses archives from various government departments, newspaper reports, and individual life stories to unpack the ways in which new migrant subjects were constituted and pathologised. Concerning the fostering and/or adoption of African children into English White homes Bailkin points out the profound consequences for generations of black families, as well the criteria by which all families in Britain were evaluated as "good" or "bad" ones.

A gripping essay on the role that Italian intellectuals played in the organization and scheduling of Swiss public radio between the Fascist period and the so-called Anni di Piombo (Years of Lead). The book What was the role of Italian intellectuals in the history of Swiss radio broadcasting culture? And what images of Switzerland and Italy were conveyed between 1930 and 1980? Ever since it began in the 1930s, Italian-language Swiss radio, a national public service broadcaster addressed to a linguistic minority, drew from intellectual resources external to its own political borders, a characteristic that contributed to defining its profile. During the Fascist period, for example, Italian intellectuals could express themselves from the microphones of this radio with a freedom that they were not allowed in their home country: Benedetto Croce's 1936 speech is a memorable case in point. Subse-quently, when the interview and debate formats tended to undermine that of the radio lecture, journalists and writers such as Pier Paolo Pasolini and Eugenio Montale took advantage of the debating space that Swiss Italy offered them. By analysing the written and audio sources, many of which unpublished, Nelly Valsangiacomo's essay reconstructs a complex as well as fascinating radio broadcasting panorama, brought to life by the voices of some of the greatest Italian intellectuals, such as Elio Vittorini, Maria Corti, Indro Montanelli, and Dario Fo. Voices that can now be listened to once again thanks to a web page completing the book: www.rsi.ch/dietroalmicrofono (Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana/Italian-language Swiss Radio and Television)