10.7340/anuac2239-625X-5023
application/pdf
2239-625X
5023
2
it
urn:nbn:it:unica-28005
Francesca Pugliese
Anuac
Daniele Comberiati, Pierre Halen, Rosaria Iounes-Vona, eds, Des italiens au Congo aux italiens du Congo: Aspects d'une glocalité, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2020, pp. 366
Text.Serial.Journal
https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/anuac
10
Book reviews
2021-12-02
2021-12-02
2021-12-31
2021-12-31
269-271
1
Francesca Pugliese
2021/12/02
10.7340/anuac2239-625X-5023
269
University of Liège/Leiden University, Belgio/Paesi Bassi
2239-625X
2
271
urn:nbn:it:unica-28005
Daniele Comberiati, Pierre Halen, Rosaria Iounes-Vona, eds, Des italiens au Congo aux italiens du Congo: Aspects d'une glocalité, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2020, pp. 366
https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/anuac/article/download/5023/5032
10
                                     2021 | ANUAC. VOL. 10, N° 2, DICEMBRE 2021: 269-271




                                                                        RECENSIONI
Daniele COMBERIATI, Pierre HALEN, Rosaria IOUNES-VONA (eds) | Des italiens au
Congo aux italiens du Congo. Aspects dʼune glocalité, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2020,
pp. 366.


   Daniele Comberiati, Rosaria Iounes-Vona and Pierre Halen’s edited volume
sets out to reflect on the link between Italy, Italians and the Democratic
Republic of Congo and the scantily known history of Italian emigration to
Central Africa. It explores various aspects linked to the intertwining of
Congolese and Italian history and to Italian and transnational Congolese
cultural and artistic representations, concluding with a proposal for a glocal
identity that can also be enriched by artistic experiences.
   The edited volume consists of five parts: the first three refer to three
phases of contemporary Congolese history (the independent state of Congo,
the Belgian Congo and the post-colonial Congo); the fourth part deals with
Pasolini and Moraviaʼs reflections and literary and cinematographic
representations of Congo and Africa more generally; the last part presents
the perspectives of three Congolese-Italian personalities from the Italian
political and cultural spheres.
   Within these parts, there are 25 chapters. The first ten ones, which make
up the first two parts of the book, present the stories of specific Italian
figures who travelled to Congo as military officers, adventurers, doctors,
filmmakers, employees, especially in the construction and mining sectors,
and missionaries. Through diverse and comprehensive sources – books,
military reports and court cases, articles published in scientific journals,
encyclopaedias and newspapers in the early 1900s, religious congregation
bulletins, travel diaries, photographs and films – the authors delve into the
various Italian debates and imaginaries about the Congo in the first half of
the 1900s. Many of these exceptional life stories reveal Italyʼs important role
in the Congo in those years and the Italian media’s interest in Congolese
affairs. Despite the absence of a conspicuous Italian presence on Congolese


This work is licensed under the Creative Commons © Francesca Pugliese
2021 | ANUAC. VOL. 10, N° 2, DICEMBRE 2021: 269-271.
ISSN: 2239-625X – DOI: 10.7340/anuac2239-625X-5023
270               DANIELE COMBERIATI ET AL. (EDS) | DES ITALIENS AU CONGO AUX ITALIENS DU CONGO


soil at this time, through Giulia Piccolinoʼs chapter (pp. 17-28), for example,
the reader learns that various newspapers of the time were reporting with
detailed articles and journalistic investigations of what was happening in
Congo. The newspapers’audience could thus find out about the accounts on
“Congo atrocities” (see Giordanoʼs chapter, pp. 35-42, and Meuriceʼs
chapter, pp. 55-70) perpetrated by the Leopoldian Congo Free State and the
subject of Italian political and military discussions. These debates are fuelled
by medical concerns, as described in Scarfoneʼs chapter, pp. 71-83, related to
"white psychopathology" and "tropical neurasthenia" allegedly developed by
Italian soldiers and migrants in Congo to adapt to the new "inhospitable"
environment. In these two parts of the book, most of the chapters touch
upon the various aspects of colonial racism and the civilising mentality of
evolutionary positivism, which was also responsible for the construction of a
clear division into social/racial classes (e.g. Quarettaʼs chapter on Salesian
missions in Katanga, pp. 147-162).
   In the third part, divided into eight chapters, the authors dwell on the
description of a more relevant and continuous Italian presence, especially in
the region of Kivu and ex-Katanga. From 1910 to 1960, the number of Italian
settlers in Congo increased from 278 (p. 141) to 4000 (p. 167), covering
diversified roles in the Congolese socio-economic fabric (Grilliʼs chapter, pp.
133-145, and Geninʼs chapter, pp. 165-177). During the end of Belgian
colonialism and the post-colonial period, the Italian government re-
considered the Congo as an attractive country for investment. Consequently,
the immigration of Italians to the Congo became an established and less
exceptional option. The feelings described by Italians in Congo, especially
during (pre)colonial time, relating to adversity, sacrifice, strangeness or
wonder at the astonishing exotic Congolese nature and anthropic diversity
began to be complemented with new imaginaries linked to nostalgia for the
colonial period and related attempts to legitimise it. Life in Congo became
describable (Ruffinengoʼs chapter, pp. 179-192), albeit mainly through
juxtapositions, binary oppositions and racist stereotypes (Hoyetʼs chapter,
pp. 223-237), it sometimes took the form of a reassuring, familiar place (p.
186) that was difficult to leave during the dramatic phase of independence
(Grilliʼs chapter, pp. 133-145).
   Throughout the book, a particular emphasis is placed on the construction
of knowledge and the role of visual techniques in forming the Italiansʼ
collective imagination about Africa. From the first photos of Italian
explorers (e.g. Lanslots’ chapter, pp. 43-54) to comic books (Federiciʼs
chapter, pp. 207-221) and the various documentaries and films (e.g. Van
Schuylenbergh’s chapter, pp. 101-116, or Allovio and Pennaciniʼs chapter,
pp. 117-132), Italian artistic production seems to have played an influential


2021 | ANUAC. VOL. 10, N° 2, DICEMBRE 2021: 269-271
DANIELE COMBERIATI ET AL. (EDS) | DES ITALIENS AU CONGO AUX ITALIENS DU CONGO           271


role in shaping the Italian and Congolese gaze on the other and contributing
to the construction of both Italian and Congolese identities. In particular, in
the fourth and fifth parts of the book, the authors describe how past and
present events in Congo have been fundamental in triggering intellectual
and imaginative reflections around a syncretic and universal political project
of history. The binary and divisive terms of “them” and “us” presented above
all in the first two parts of the book are partially replaced by the concepts of
creolisation and metissage in the third part (Mpala-Lutebele and Halenʼs
chapter, pp. 247-261), to end up being rejected and critically discussed in
Pasoliniʼs "Panmeridional" project, which saw in the Congolese/African
people a revolutionary force against the mass neo-capitalist model (e.g.
Rivaʼs chapter, pp. 305-324).
   In the fifth part, the perspectives of three Congolese migrants in Italy
reinforce the main idea of the book on how cultural representations can be
used to fight stereotypes, unite cultures and build transnationality. The idea
of talking about Italians from Congo is very pertinent, although this part
could have been better developed: there are only three chapters that seem
almost detached from the bookʼs structure. Although perhaps this was not
the aim of the book, it would have been interesting to have chapters in all
parts of the book on the perspectives of some Congolese figures on Italians
in the Congo and if and how Congolese artistic representations have
influenced the Italian imaginary on Africa.
   The book would also have benefited from an extra chapter on the
historical and social situation of the Italians in the Congo to provide a more
coherent framework for the various themes dealt with and the different
styles of the authors. Notwithstanding these minor issues, I found the book
extremely significant as it sheds light on many aspects of the almost
forgotten history of Italians in Congo despite the normality of this history in
the lives of many Italian families and in the imaginative references of 20th-
century Italian culture. It is a necessary book, especially because of the
absence of a real debate in Italy on (Italian) colonialism (as Morone also
points out in his chapter, pp. 193-206) outside of the scientific community
(e.g. Giordanoʼs works on Italians in Congo). Perhaps it would be worth
thinking of an Italian translation that could also reach an Italian audience
and trigger a reflection on the role of Italians in Africa during colonialism
and on the forms of identities of the new Italians of Africa.

                                                                      Francesca PUGLIESE
                                                 University of Liège / Leiden University
                                                            francesca.pugliese@gmail.com


                                         2021 | ANUAC. VOL. 10, N° 2, DICEMBRE 2021: 269-271
