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Fascist Colonialism: The Archaeology of Italian Outposts in Western Ethiopia (1936–41)

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Abstract

Despite the relevance of material culture in the politics and culture of Italian Fascism (1922–45), this phenomenon has rarely been approached from an archaeological point of view. In this article, I argue that archaeology can provide new insights into the study of this particular version of totalitarianism. I will show the connections that an archaeological study of fascism has with some concerns of historical archaeology, such as colonialism, power, conflict, and race. For this, three Italian military sites in Ethiopia will be examined.

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Acknowledgments

Fieldwork was carried out with the invaluable help of Álvaro Falquina Aparicio, Xurxo Ayán Vila (CSIC) and Dawit Tibebu (ARCCH). I am grateful to Anxo Rodríguez Paz (CSIC), for his drawings of the materials from Gubba. The director of the Benishangul-Gumuz archaeological project is Víctor M. Fernández (Complutense University of Madrid).

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Correspondence to Alfredo González-Ruibal.

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González-Ruibal, A. Fascist Colonialism: The Archaeology of Italian Outposts in Western Ethiopia (1936–41). Int J Histor Archaeol 14, 547–574 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-010-0118-6

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