Euroafrica: A Cultural History of an Idea

The chapter discusses the origin and evolution of the idea of Eurafrica covering the period from the 19th century to the present day. The Eurafrica narrative is based on the idea of the complementarity between Europe and Africa and has its origins in the period of colonial conquests. The heyday of this narrative was the 1920s and 1930s, primarily in fascist Italy and in France of the Third Republic. After World War II, the idea was revived in a new geopolitical context related to the dynamics of the Cold War, post-colonialism, and the ongoing processes of European integration. A question whether recent projects, such as the project of the Mediterranean Union fostered by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as the “Plan Mattei” advocated by the Italian prime minister, Georgia Meloni, can be considered an attempt to resurrect the idea of Eurafrica constitutes major conceptual axis of the lead.