'That is why we have trouble': the 'pro-Italia' movement's challenge to nationalism in British-occupied Somalia (1946-9)

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Periodical article

Title:	'That is why we have trouble': the 'pro-Italia' movement's challenge to nationalism in British-occupied Somalia (1946-9)
Author:	Urbano, Annalisa
Year:	2016
Periodical:	The Journal of African History (ISSN 0021-8537)
Volume:	57
Issue:	3
Pages:	323-344
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Somalia
Subjects:	decolonization nationalism UN 1940-1949
Link:	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853716000311
Abstract:	Postwar politics in British-occupied Somalia is usually reduced to the activities of the Somali Youth League, the foremost anticolonial nationalist movement. However, by 1947, smaller associations, pejoratively nicknamed the 'pro-Italia', came together in an effort to return Somalia to Italy under international mandate. Drawing upon new archival sources, the article argues that this movement did not stem from arguments supporting colonial rule, but rather from objections to the nationalist agenda and military occupation. Closer attention to these voices sheds light on the deeper meanings of political alignment during the change of regime and enhances our understanding of political developments in postwar Somalia. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]