Italian Colonists and Rumour as Anti-Regime Negotiation in Italian Occupied Ethiopia, 1936–41

The article analyses 42 rumours and gossip pertaining to Fascist authorities, specifically high-ranked individuals and members of colonial police, documented in Italian occupied Ethiopia (1936–41). The primary goal of this study is to introduce methodological and historiographical reflections for the study of these narratives in the context of Fascist colonialism. This will be achieved in consideration of the context's distinctive characteristics, including the scarcity of reliable information and the regime's pervasive surveillance of the colonizers’ lives. Moreover, the analysis will use these narratives to illustrate the expectations of Italian colonizers regarding the occupation of Ethiopia. The article contends that rumours and gossip served as a means for Italian colonists to voice their discontent towards the Fascist authorities, and that they are now a crucial archive for historians striving to grasp their anxieties and life-experiences.