Università di Torino, Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società 12-13/03/2026

The trilingual conference “Colonial Communities” in the Mediterranean between Italian Unification and the Occupation of Libya seeks to address a still relatively unexplored topic: the study of Italian communities abroad, with particular attention to the Mediterranean world in the period between national unification (1861) and the occupation of Libya (1911). At the core of this reflection lies the close, and not merely chronological, relationship between the migratory dynamics that characterized the early decades of unified Italy and the rise of colonial expansionism. The seminar therefore aims to investigate this connection through the specific lens offered by the Italian presence in North Africa and in the Ottoman Empire before the occupation of Libya.

The objective of the conference is to systematize research that remains fragmented across different disciplines and historiographical traditions, while foregrounding the specificities of the Italian historical trajectory and, at the same time, situating it within a broader international dialogue. By focusing on these “Mediterranean colonies,” the conference seeks to open new avenues of research at the crossroads of Italian history, migration studies, colonial and postcolonial studies, and Mediterranean and global history. Bringing together diverse disciplinary approaches, heterogeneous sources, and comparative methodologies, it aims to foster the development of new scholarship on migration, colonialism, and transnationalism—stimulating international research on Italy’s role in global and colonial history and offering an interdisciplinary perspective that resonates strongly with contemporary debates on mobility, identity, and cultural encounters.

Keynote
Keynote speech by Nicola Labanca (Università di Siena)

Submission guidelines
To apply as a speaker, candidates are required to submit a proposal including title, affiliation, abstract (maximum 400 words), and a short bio (maximum 100 words) by 1/12/2025 to the following email address: comunitacoloniali@gmail.com

More details and information are in the call for papers