Networks, imaginaries and objects on the move: history crosses borders

Venue: Palazzo Massimo alle Terme

The second day explores the real and symbolic networks that have connected Italy, Africa, and the Mediterranean. The morning sessions will examine perceptions of proximity between Sicily and North Africa, the scholarly construction of Christian Africa, Ethiopian-European relations, and Rome’s legacy in Algeria. In the afternoon, the focus shifts to representations and cultural imaginaries: from the transcultural mobility of African objects during the Cold War to pre-imperial Massawa. Finally, the concluding session investigates the circulation of people and ideas, exploring the controversial role of the askaris and the Mediterranean trajectories of the Congregation of the Oratory between Rome and Africa.

9:30 Session Two – Circuits, Networks and Agents – Chair: Anna Maria Medici (Urbino Carlo Bo University)

John Aspinwall (Deutsches Historisches Institut in Rom / Universität Heidelberg), As If Africa Were So Far Away! Sicily, North Africa, and the Question of Home

Matteo Salvadore (American University of Sharjah), From Refugee to Papal Familiar: Abba Täsfa Ṣeyon and the Making and Unmaking of Ethiopian-European Relations

Simona Negruzzo (University of Pavia), Stefano Antonio Morcelli and the Scholarly Invention of Christian Africa (1816–1817)

11:00 Break

Senefer Mokhtari (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne / CNRA Algeria), Rome’s Legacy in Algeria: Perceptions of Pre-Islamic Remains before the Colonial Period (8th Century–1830) and the Instrumentalisation of Antiquities during Colonial Rule (1830–1962)

12:15 Discussion

13:00 break

14:30 Session Three – Imaginaries and Representations

Francesco Spina (Ostia Antica Archaeological Park), The “Turkish” Miscellany of Rome’s Biblioteca Vallicelliana: Mediterranean Trajectories of the Congregation of the Oratory between Rome and Africa

Valentina Villa (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) – Mattia Fumagalli Casati (MSCA Global Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University and Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia), Massawa before the Empire: Religious Networks and the Negotiation of Authority between Italy and the Horn of Africa (1850–1936)

Break

16:15 Session Four (I) – Circulation of Objects, Ideas and People – Chair: Matteo Salvadore (American University of Sharjah)

Nicola Camilleri (Deutsches Historisches Institut in Rom / Roma Tre University), Violent Intermediaries between Colony and Metropole: The Role of Askaris in Italian Colonialism

Zsuzsanna Paal (Rómer Flóris Art and Historical Museum), African Objects on the Move during the Cold War: The Imre Patkó Collection in Győr (Hungary) as a Case Study in Transcultural Mobility and Postcolonial Musealisation

18:00 Discussion