Seminario IMF-CSIC: Beatrice Falcucci, From imperial big game hunting to post-colonial safari. Wildlife and colonial narratives in the Horn of Africa, 1906-1974

Abstract: This research examines how Italy perceived and represented African nature during and after the colonial period, with a particular focus on the imagery surrounding big game hunting in the Fascist era. Through an interdisciplinary and transmedial approach, various cultural products will be analyzed—including literature, cinema, and museum exhibitions—to trace the construction of exotic wildlife as a symbol of both imperial conquest and leisure. Beginning with the earliest hunting narratives from 1906, which depicted hunting in Eritrea, the study will explore how this discourse evolved through the safari manuals of the 1960s. A key aspect of this investigation will be the intersection of race and gender in the Italian colonial hunting imaginary: the act of big game hunting was deeply intertwined with masculinist narratives that framed the hunter as a figure of dominance over both nature and the colonial subjects. Furthermore, this study will consider how representations of African wildlife were racialized, often serving as metaphors for broader colonial ideologies of control and otherness. Beyond the official end of Italian colonial rule, the study will examine the role of Italian communities that remained in former colonies of Somalia and Ethiopia, particularly in managing the emerging tourism industry centered on safaris. These communities played a crucial role in sustaining the postcolonial legacy of big game hunting, adapting its narratives to fit a new context of international tourism while preserving many of the tropes established during the colonial period. Additionally, this research will address the colonial origins of wildlife conservation efforts, which were often motivated by a desire to regulate hunting practices, rather than an intrinsic concern for ecological preservation. Many conservation policies implemented in former Italian colonies, in fact, retained traces of colonial power structures, privileging elite hunting experiences while restricting local communities’ access to natural resources. 

Beatrice Falcucci is Juan de la Cierva Fellow in History at the Pompeu Fabra University. Her work looks at colonial culture in Italy, the building of Italian national identity, Italian and European colonial museology, and the post-colonial legacies in Italian society, culture, and politics. She published extensively on these topics, winning prizes such as the award of the Association for the Study of Modern Italy’s best-unpublished article and the Fondazione Spadolini prize for the best doctoral thesis (defended at the University of Florence, 2021). Her current project deals with safari culture and the exploitation of exotic animals during the fascist period and its post-imperial legacy, exploring a wide range of visual products such as museum displays, books, films. This line of research will be further explored from 2026 within the Marie Curie Global Fellowship project LIANAS (Looking at Italian Africa Nature, Animals, and Safari), which will be carried out in collaboration between the University of Florence and the University of Houston. Her research has been supported by several academic institutions including the American Academy in Rome, Fondazione Einaudi in Turin, and The Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome, and the Center for the Study of Cultural Memory (School of Advanced Study London). She has published the monograph L’impero nei musei. Storie di collezioni coloniali italiane (2025) and co-edited the books Travelling Matters across the Mediterranean. Rereading, Reshaping, Reusing Objects, 10th–20th centuries (2024), L’Italia e il mondo post-coloniale. Politiche, cooperazione e mobilità tra decolonizzazioni e guerra fredda (2023) and Rereading Travellers to the East. Shaping identities and building the nation in Post-unification Italy (2022).