From warriors to urban dwellers: Ascari and the military factor in the urban development of colonial Eritrea

In the process of urbanisation experienced by Eritrea, between 1890 and 1941, under Italian colonialism a major role was played by the military component. Military priorities were crucial in determining lines of development in the early colonial urban planning in Eritrea as the criteria of military defensibility, rather than economic or functional priorities, had significantly influenced the main patterns of early colonial settlements in the region. The military factor was also important in determining the nature and extent of the interaction between colonial urban planning and Eritrean society. In this process a major role was played by Eritrean colonial troops, known as ascari. In virtue of their close relation with the colonial authority ascari became a sort of buffer between colonized and colonizers and, therefore, were partially involved in the colonial strategy aimed at reshaping the social and economic landscape of Eritrea. Ascari were instrumental in the colonial attempt to set up the composite set of relations and strategies which constituted the colonial milieu. Urban history of colonial Eritrea represents one of the ideal subjects for the study of the development of the colonial society in which colonial soldiers were important actors as builders of social and territorial urban spaces

Religione, conflitti e mutamenti politici: un\u2019analisi comparata del Corno d\u2019Africa

Le rappresentazioni mediatiche delle dinamiche politico-sociali contemporanee nella regione del Corno d'Africa tendono a presentarci scenari nei quali la religione sembrerebbe avere un ruolo centrale nella dialettica politica e in particolare nella sua sua tendenza a una polarizzazione conflittuale, si pensi in proposito alle letture prevalenti dei drammatici conflitti nel Sudan e in Somalia. Sembrerebbe cos\uec emergere prepotentemente una centralit\ue0 del fattore religioso come elemento di polarizzazione dei conflitti e come persistente fattore di richiamo identitario nelle dinamiche politiche del Corno d'Africa. Scopo di questo contributo \ue8 pertanto di analizzare in una prospettiva diacronica e comparata l'interazione tra religioni e processi di trasformazione politica nella regione del Corno d'Africa, evidenziando elementi di similarit\ue0 cos\uec come di specificit\ue0 e cercando cos\uec anche di dare una valutazione generale della validit\ue0 e attualit\ue0 interpretativa della nozione di secolarismo nella storia politica e culturale della regione. Da un punto di vista geografico il presente contributo si concentra prevalentemente sui territori del Corno d'Africa che sono stati parte dei possedimenti coloniali italiani in Africa e che pertanto presentano maggiori elementi di omogeneit\ue0 in relazione alle loro dinamiche di sviluppo storico

From Warriors to Urban Dwellers

In the process of urbanisation experienced by Eritrea, between 1890 and 1941, under Italian colonialism a major role was played by the military component. Military priorities were crucial in determining lines of development in the early colonial urban planning in Eritrea as the criteria of military defensibility, rather than economic or functional priorities, had significantly influenced the main patterns of early colonial settlements in the region. The military factor was also important in determining the nature and extent of the interaction between colonial urban planning and Eritrean society. In this process a major role was played by Eritrean colonial troops, known as ascari. In virtue of their close relation with the colonial authority ascari became a sort of buffer between colonized and colonizers and, therefore, were partially involved in the colonial strategy aimed at reshaping the social and economic landscape of Eritrea. Ascari were instrumental in the colonial attempt to set up the composite set of relations and strategies which constituted the colonial milieu. Urban history of colonial Eritrea represents one of the ideal subjects for the study of the development of the colonial society in which colonial soldiers were important actors as builders of social and territorial urban spaces.Le facteur militaire a joué un rôle important dans le processus d’urbanisation de l’Érythrée entre 1890 et 1941, pendant la période coloniale italienne. Les priorités militaires ont été plus déterminantes que les priorités économiques ou fonctionnelles dans le choix des lignes de développement dans l’urbanisme des débuts de la colonie. Le facteur militaire a également été décisif pour déterminer la nature et l’étendue de l’interaction entre l’urbanisme colonial et la société érythréenne. Les troupes coloniales érythréennes, connues sous le nom d’ascaris ont joué un rôle majeur dans ce processus. Du fait de leurs relations étroites avec les autorités, les ascaris sont devenus une sorte de tampon entre les colonisateurs et les colonisés et, pour cette raison, ont été en partie impliqués dans la stratégie coloniale qui visait à redéfinir le paysage économique et social de l’Érythrée. Les ascaris ont joué un rôle décisif dans la tentative menée par les autorités coloniales de mettre en place un ensemble de relations et de stratégies qui ont constitué le milieu colonial. L’histoire urbaine de l’Érythrée représente un sujet idéal pour l’étude du développement de la société coloniale dans laquelle les soldats coloniaux ont été des acteurs importants en tant que créateurs d’espaces urbains sociaux et territoriaux

Reviewing directionality in writing and translation: notes for a history of translation in the Horn of Africa.

Bringing together history and the study of translation, this article focuses on Christian missionary activities in Eritrea and Ethiopia, with special reference to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It presents and discusses their impact on the shaping and reshaping of cultures and identities in a dynamic interrelation with the African agenda. Though focusing on relatively recent events, this article also takes into account the traditions of evangelization and translation that populated the cultural and religious landscape of the region over a timespan of more than 16 centuries. Focusing on orally transmitted knowledge, written documents, the advent of printing in the area, and all the other activities which have made the dissemination of the missionaries' Christianity possible, this article aims to overcome the common assumption that colonialism stands as an absolute historical divide, and to suggest a revision of the notion of directionality typically applied to the observation of translation phenomena in Africa and other colonial contexts, whereby horizontality is associated with before and verticality with after the colonial period. Reflecting upon instances of multidirectional writing and translation processes from a historical perspective, with special reference to Christian missionary activities in the Horn of Africa, the ultimate aim of this article is to highlight the importance of interdisciplinary research and its great potential in casting light over events and practices which are still largely unexplored

In memoriam Richard David Greenfield (1931-2008)

Obituar

Introduction

This book aims to suggest an analysis of the conflict that focuses on three crucial points. The first is related to space. It is now evident that the framework of the nation-state is too circumscribed and does not capture the complexity of the relations that came into being at local, national and international levels. In this regard, we find particularly penalising the conventional approach that tends to investigate WWI in Africa and the Middle East as two separate settings, a view that unfortunately is still prevalent. Also, WWI studies have tended to examine the conflict within the geographical contours created by the area studies paradigm. Adopted in the 1950s, the area studies model has been under scrutiny since the mid-1990s.73 The artificial disjuncture between Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and the Middle East reveals all its inadequacies when we deal with the Horn of Africa, an area strongly connected to the neighboring regions. Our choice to focus on a territory which stretches from Libya to Ethiopia and encompasses the Yemen and Middle East is an attempt to overcome this hiatus. Erasing the artificial lines that divide the Horn of Africa from the wider Red Sea region allows approaches that offer a greater understanding of the dynamics at work during WWI. Ours is only a partial attempt to address this methodological limit. But we are aware that Shar\u12bf Husayn\u2019s break with the Ottomans and the volatile situation in Yemen and along the Red Sea deserves more attention from scholars of African history