Introduction

Summary

The introduction explains the subject and purpose of this study, placing it in its historiographical contexts, which includes the history of the racial identity of the Italians, the history of the continuities of fascist and colonial racism in post-fascist and post-colonial Italy, and the history of Black Italy. I illustrate the specificities of the story of the Italian “brown babies” within the larger framework of post-World War II Europe, foregrounding the persistence of racial ideology in post-fascist Italy and the continuing racial subtext of Italian national identity, in spite of the emergence of ant-iracist sensibilities. The introduction also provides an overview of the book chapters.