Gender and Sexual Abuses during the Italian Colonization of Ethiopia and Eritrea <br/>—<i>The “Insabbiatti”, Thirty Years after</i>

Cet article reprend des travaux sur la relation entre colons et colonisées à l'époque du fascisme. Il est également l'objet d'un film produit par Arte en 1997 "Hotel Abyssinie". Une série de photos de Fabienne Le Houérou se rapportent également à cette thématique. (voir sur son site imagmundi.com) et sur le site d'Arte:http://www.lightnight.ch/films/hotel-abyssinie/International audienceThis 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)