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THE ITALIAN TRUSTEESHIP OF SOMALIA (AFIS) AND THE PUBLIC USE OF HISTORY. VALUES, TRADITIONS, SYMBOLS AND MEMORIES

S. Berardi

Abstract

On November 21, 1949, as is well known, due to the approval of Resolution 289 by the UN General Assembly, Italy obtained the Trusteeship Administration of Somalia, a result that finally rewarded the efforts of the government of Rome and, in particular, of the President Alcide De Gasperi and his Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Republican Carlo Sforza. The aim of the Trusteeship was to lead – in a maximum of ten years – Somalia to independence, through a gradual and necessary economic and political emancipation, which involved the formation of a local ruling class. The objective was certainly not easy to achieve, given the bad reputation of the Italians in Somalia, the logical consequence of a troubled colonial era. In January, 1948, the slaughter of Mogadishu, in which 54 Italians were killed, made it possible to understand the complexity of the task the government of Rome had to carry out. Therefore, the birth of a tighter cooperation between the Italian and the Somali civil society was essential to promote the development of a "common feeling", based on the rediscovery of a shared path, from the late Nineteenth century, between the former colonizers and the colonized. History became the preferred means to enhance this bond: schools, universities, local cultural institutes represented the main places to highlight the commonality of values, traditions, symbols and memories. Magazines, flags, coats of arms, anniversaries, commemorations would help to symbolize the synergies between the Italian people and the Somali people. It is no coincidence, in fact, that during the ten-year mandate, the Canto degli Italiani was the anthem played in all official ceremonies. This article, therefore, aims at emphasizing the different hinges and forms of public history in the process of building the Somali State.

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