TITLE:
Gender and Sexual Abuses during the Italian Colonization of Ethiopia and Eritrea —The “Insabbiatti”, Thirty Years after
AUTHORS:
Fabienne Le Houérou
KEYWORDS:
Ethiopia, Eritrea, Abyssinia, Italian Colonization, Gender, Insabbiatto, Madamism, Antchilite, Bambine Mania, Sexual Abuses, Pedophilia
JOURNAL NAME:
Sociology Mind,
Vol.5 No.4,
October
20,
2015
ABSTRACT: This paper explores the singular role of cross-cultural couples of Italian men and Abyssinian women during the fascist colonies in East Africa (Eritrea and Ethiopia). This article is based on an inquiry driven ethno-historical research conducted 30 years ago in Ethiopia among ex-Italian colonial actors in Ethiopia and their concubines. These ex-colons were calling themselves insabbiatti a very original term locally employed. To be an insabbiatto is to be stuck, shipwrecked, stranded in the sand. It means to be forgotten in Far-South Italian colonies (such as East Africa or Libya).