Colonial​ ​Images​ ​and​ ​Post-Colonial​ ​History​ ​Education:​ ​An​ ​Empirical​ ​Study​ ​on Italian​ ​Textbooks

Legacies​ ​of​ ​colonialism​ ​challenge​ ​history​ ​education​ ​in​ ​many​ ​nation​ ​states,​ ​which​ ​are​ ​coping with​ ​memories​ ​of​ ​their​ ​past​ ​either​ ​as​ ​settlers​ ​or​ ​as​ ​colonized​ ​people.​ ​Among​ ​those​ ​engaged​ ​in the​ ​post-colonial​ ​reconstruction​ ​of​ ​their​ ​colonial​ ​past,​ ​Italy​ ​offers​ ​an​ ​interesting​ ​case​ ​study: memories​ ​of​ ​serious​ ​war​ ​crimes​ ​committed​ ​by​ ​the​ ​Italian​ ​Army​ ​during​ ​its​ ​colonial​ ​invasions have​ ​been​ ​self-censored​ ​for​ ​a​ ​very​ ​long​ ​time,​ ​and​ ​even​ ​Italian​ ​history​ ​textbooks​ ​didn’t​ ​include information​ ​on​ ​these​ ​wrongdoings​ ​until​ ​quite​ ​recently.​ ​A​ ​quanti-qualitative​ ​analysis​ ​of​ ​seven textbooks​ ​in​ ​use​ ​from​ ​the​ ​beginning​ ​of​ ​2000​ ​and​ ​addressed​ ​to​ ​students​ ​attending​ ​the​ ​last​ ​year of​ ​Italian​ ​high​ ​school​ ​showed​ ​that​ ​only​ ​few​ ​pages​ ​of​ ​these​ ​present-day​ ​history​ ​texts​ ​were dedicated​ ​to​ ​narrating​ ​the​ ​colonial​ ​invasions.​ ​Moreover,​ ​colonial​ ​wars​ ​are​ ​described​ ​as​ ​a​ ​short period​ ​or​ ​even​ ​as​ ​an​ ​adventure,​ ​intrinsically​ ​linked​ ​solely​ ​to​ ​the​ ​Fascist​ ​regime​ ​(Leone​ ​& Mastrovito,​ ​2010).​ ​The​ ​research​ ​presented​ ​in​ ​the​ ​paper​ ​builds​ ​on​ ​this​ ​previous​ ​research.​ ​Its corpus​ ​is​ ​composed​ ​of​ ​the​ ​same​ ​seven​ ​textbooks,​ ​which​ ​were​ ​chosen​ ​by​ ​Italian​ ​historians​ ​as particularly​ ​representative​ ​of​ ​present-day​ ​history​ ​teaching.​ ​The​ ​present​ ​study​ ​takes​ ​into​ ​account texts​ ​and​ ​visuals​ ​(drawings​ ​and​ ​photographs)​ ​used​ ​to​ ​convey​ ​a​ ​narrative​ ​of​ ​Italian​ ​colonial​ ​past. Texts​ ​were​ ​analysed​ ​according​ ​to​ ​their​ ​level​ ​of​ ​frankness​ ​vs.​ ​ambiguity​ ​when​ ​describing​ ​Italian war​ ​crimes.​ ​Images​ ​were​ ​analysed​ ​reconstructing​ ​their​ ​documentary​ ​information,​ ​their​ ​reference to​ ​text,​ ​their​ ​labels​ ​and​ ​explanation​ ​if​ ​any.​ ​The​ ​hermeneutic​ ​analysis​ ​of​ ​the​ ​visual​ ​elements​ ​was supported​ ​by​ ​these​ ​contextual​ ​information.​ ​Results​ ​show​ ​how​ ​texts​ ​and​ ​images​ ​composing​ ​the history​ ​manuals​ ​seem​ ​to​ ​operate​ ​at​ ​a​ ​very​ ​different​ ​level.​ ​While​ ​texts​ ​critically​ ​reassess​ ​and re-evaluate​ ​these​ ​episodes​ ​of​ ​the​ ​national​ ​past,​ ​images​ ​are​ ​still​ ​deeply​ ​mirroring​ ​the​ ​point​ ​of view​ ​of​ ​the​ ​colonial​ ​propaganda,​ ​as​ ​if​ ​suggesting​ ​a​ ​somehow​ ​nostalgic​ ​re-imagining​ ​of​ ​colonial relations.