Borderlines in the Borderlands: Defining difference through history, “race”, and citizenship in Fascist Italy

Abstract

The paper discusses the colony in Libya and the province of South Tyrol under Fascism. It focuses on their status as 'borderlands' and what that meant in terms of defining the difference between the native populations on the one hand and the immigrant Italian population on the other. In particular, the paper analyzes the place afforded to the Libyan and the South Tyrolean populations in Italian ideology and legislation. It discusses the relevance of the myth of Rome for Italy’s expansion and analyzes various taxonomies of difference employed in the categorization of the 'other', in particular racial and religious markers of difference. After analyzing the limitations of citizenship in a fascist dictatorship and within the colonial environment in particular, the paper concludes with a short discussion of assimilative and segregationist approaches to 'otherness'.