Gender relations during the Italian occupation had, and still have, a considerable impact on Ethiopian society. After gaining Assab in and Massawa in , in what was then called Eritrea was established by Italy as a colony.
Italy began occupying Somalia in and Libya in In Mussolini, with much boasting, embarked upon the Ethiopian Campaign and Italian troops entered Addis Ababa in Five years later Italy lost control of Ethiopia.
In the last couple of decades there has been increasing interest in the history of Italian colonialism, 5 as well as from the international research field and postcolonial studies. Thus, colonial life in Ethiopia has been less studied and documented than that in Eritrea.
It focuses more specifically on gender relations in Ethiopia after the colonial period. The gender legacy is studied on the basis of previous comparative works which suggest some profound similarities between colonial practices in Eritrea and in Ethiopia. These interviews were conducted in after posting ads in local newspapers in Ethiopia which resulted in around phone calls from people involved in this particular issue.
Relations between Italian men and African women played a central role in colonialist practices, in the promulgation of racist legislation in the s, and in shaping the colonial imaginary. As was the case in France during its colonial period, there was a widespread underground circulation of postcards portraying naked black beauties. This had a considerable impact inside Italy itself, where colonialism involved the dream of finding sexually available women in Africa.
