Alessandro Pes is an Associate Professor of Contemporary History at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Cagliari.

Education:

                  •               PhD in History, Institutions, and International Relations of Africa and Asia in the modern and contemporary age, with a dissertation in disciplinary sector M-STO/04 titled “Italian and Ethiopian elites: relations, problems, conflicts, 1936-1937,” awarded on December 17, 2007, at the University of Cagliari. Thesis supervisor: Prof. Cecilia Novelli.

Teaching Activities:

                  •               Academic Year 2024-25: Lecturer for the courses Storia del Mediterraneo contemporaneo and History of Colonialism and decolonization in the Master’s program in International Relations, Contemporary History in the Bachelor’s program in Political Science, the Public History Workshop, and History of the Welfare State (including a blended course format) in the Bachelor’s program in Administration and Organizational Sciences at the University of Cagliari.

                  •               Academic Year 2023-24: Lecturer for the courses Storia del Mediterraneo contemporaneo and Contemporary Mediterranean History in the Master’s program in International Relations, and Contemporary History in the Bachelor’s program in Political Science at the University of Cagliari.

                  •               Academic Year 2022-23: Lecturer for the courses Storia del Mediterraneo contemporaneo and Contemporary Mediterranean History in the Master’s program in International Relations at the University of Cagliari.

                  •               Academic Year 2021-22: Lecturer for the courses Storia del Mediterraneo contemporaneo and Contemporary Mediterranean History in the Master’s program in International Relations at the University of Cagliari.

                  •               Academic Year 2020-21: Lecturer for the courses Storia del Mediterraneo contemporaneo and Contemporary Mediterranean History in the Master’s program in International Relations at the University of Cagliari.

                  •               Academic Year 2019-20: Lecturer for the course Storia del Mediterraneo contemporaneo in the Master’s program in International Relations at the University of Cagliari.

                  •               Academic Year 2018-19: Lecturer for the course History of Globalization in the Master’s program in International Relations at the University of Cagliari.

                  •               Academic Year 2017-18: Lecturer for the course History of Globalization in the Master’s program in International Relations at the University of Cagliari.

                  •               Academic Year 2016-17: Lecturer for the course History of Globalization in the Master’s program in International Relations at the University of Cagliari.

                  •               Academic Year 2015-16: Lecturer for the course History of Globalization in the Master’s program in International Relations at the University of Cagliari.

                  •               Academic Year 2014-2015: Lecturer for the course Contemporary History in the Master’s program in Governance and Global Systems at the University of Cagliari.

Research and Training Activities:

                  •               New York University, Remarque Institute for European History Fellow 2023.

January – March 2016: Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the History of Colonialisms, School of History, University of Kent.

                  •               October 2012 – June 2014: Post-doctoral researcher in Contemporary History, under Italian law 240/2010 (DR 958/2012), on the project “Colonists without colonies: Postcolonial politics, society, and culture in Italy, 1950-1980.” Research area: 11 (Historical, Philosophical, Pedagogical, and Psychological Sciences); Scientific supervisor: Prof. Cecilia Novelli. Conducted at the Department of Social Sciences and Institutions, University of Cagliari.

                  •               September 2012 – September 2015: National Coordinator for the Italian Society for the Study of Contemporary History (SISSCO) for the national seminar “Colonialism and National Identity: Overseas Territories between Fascism and the Republic.”

                  •               October 2011: Contract with the Italian Cultural Institute and the Italian Embassy in Addis Ababa as scientific organizer of the conference Between Two Free Countries: Italy and Ethiopia from the End of Occupation to the Present, held at the Italian Cultural Institute in Addis Ababa on February 14, 2012.

                  •               May 2011 – March 2012: Research contract on Italian migration to Ethiopia as part of the project “Island of missed opportunities? Sardinia’s marginality and centrality: Local realities and international pathways in history, politics, economy, and culture in the 19th and 20th centuries.” Project supervisor: Prof. Liliana Saiu; research unit coordinator: Prof. Cecilia Novelli.

                  •               January 2008 – June 2008: Visiting Fellow and Part-Time Teacher at the Department of Italian Studies, University of Bristol.

                  •               January 2007 – March 2007: Visiting PhD student at the Department of Italian Studies, New York University.

                  •               June 2006 – December 2007: Collaboration on the research program led by Prof. Cecilia Novelli, titled Associations and Gender Identity in Republican Italy, as part of the national research project (PRIN) Catholic Church, Holy See, and Communism: From the Divini Redemptoris to the Ost-Politik.

Organization, Direction, and Coordination of National and International Research Groups or Participation in Such Groups:

                  •               Since June 2016: Member of the Scientific Committee for the SISSCO research seminar Europe Between Migrations, Decolonization, and Integration (1945–1992).

                  •               September 2012 – September 2015: Coordinator for the Italian Society for the Study of Contemporary History (SISSCO) for the national seminar Colonialism and National Identity: Overseas Territories Between Fascism and the Republic.

                  •               October 2011: Contract with the Italian Cultural Institute and the Italian Embassy in Addis Ababa as scientific organizer of the conference Between Two Free Countries: Italy and Ethiopia from the End of Occupation to the Present, held at the Italian Cultural Institute in Addis Ababa on February 14, 2012.

Publications

Monographs:

                  •               Co-authored with Valeria Deplano: History of Italian Colonialism: Politics, Culture, and Memory from the Liberal Age to the Present Day, Carocci, Rome, 2024.

                  •               Reclaiming Italians: The Sardinian Reclamation Society Between Recovery and Colonization During Fascist Italy, AM&D, Cagliari, 2013. ISBN: 978-88-95462-62-2.

                  •               The Construction of the Fascist Empire: Regime Policies for a Colonial Society, Aracne, Rome, 2010. ISBN: 978–88–548–3770–6.

Edited Volumes:

                  •               V. Deplano, G. Laschi, A. Pes: Europe Between Migrations, Decolonization, and Integration (1945–1992), Routledge, London-New York, 2020.

                  •               V. Deplano, G. Laschi, A. Pes: Europe in Motion, il Mulino, Bologna, 2017.

                  •               A. Pes & F. Evangelisti (Eds.): Exhibitions: Propaganda and Identity Construction, special issue of Diacronie: Studi di Storia Contemporanea, Issue 18, Volume 2, June 2014. ISSN: 2038-0925.

                  •               A. Pes & V. Deplano (Eds.): What Remains of the Empire: Italians’ Colonial Culture, Mimesis, Udine, 2014. ISBN: 9788857525389.

                  •               A. Pes (Ed.): Mare Nostrum: Fascist Colonialism Between Reality and Representation, Aipsa, Cagliari, 2012. ISBN: 978-88-95692-73-9.

                  •               M. Fois & A. Pes (Eds.): Politics and Minorities in Africa, Aracne, Rome, 2012. ISBN 978-88-548-5700-1.

Articles and Book Chapters:

                  •               Colonists or Migrants? The Political Debate on Returns From the Former Colonies in Post-war Italy, in S. Oberbichler, E. Pfanzelter, V. Larcher (Eds.), Return and Circular Migration in Contemporary Europe, De Gruyter, 2024.

                  •               Co-authored with Valeria Deplano: An Island in the Sun: Material Legacies of Colonialism in Sardinia Between the Nation-Building Process and (a Lack of) Decolonization, in Interventions, 2023.

                  •               Public Discourse and the Stereotype of the “Good Colonizer”: Italian Institutions and the Colonial Past, in Memoria e Ricerca, 2023.

                  •               Without the Empire: Italian Communities in East Africa Between the Imperial Myth and the End of Colonialism, in RIME, 10(2022).

                  •               A Univocal Special Relationship: The Idea of Eurafrica at the Economic Conference of the European Movement, in V. Deplano, G. Laschi, A. Pes (Eds.), Europe Between Migrations, Decolonization, and Integration (1945–1992), Routledge, London-New York, 2020.

                  •               Sin futuro no existe el pasado: Dialogue on the Teaching of History and Citizenship, in Segle XX, 12(2019).

                  •               Colonialismo di ritorno: Repatriates From Former Italian Colonies and the Labor Issue, in V. Deplano, G. Laschi, A. Pes (Eds.), Europe in Motion, il Mulino, Bologna, 2017.

                  •               An Empire for a Kingdom: Monarchy and Fascism in Italian Colonies, in R. Aldrich & C. McCreery (Eds.), Crowns and Colonies: European Monarchies and Overseas Empires, Manchester University Press, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-7849-9315-3.

                  •               Colonies for Emigrants: The Labor Issue in the Debate on Colonies From the “Memorandum on the Italian Colonies” to the National Congress for the Interests of the Italian People in Africa, in I sentieri della ricerca, No. 22, December 2015, pp. 165–183. ISSN: 1826-7920.

                  •               The Colonial Question Between Ideology and Political Praxis (1946–1949), in P. Bertella Farnetti & C. Dau Novelli (Eds.), Colonialism and National Identity, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015. ISBN: 978-1-4438-8005-3, pp. 112–125.

                  •               Colonists Without Colonies: Christian Democracy and the Failed Decolonization (1946–1950), in A. Pes & V. Deplano (Eds.), What Remains of the Empire: Italians’ Colonial Culture, Mimesis, Udine, 2014. ISBN: 9788857525389, pp. 417–437.

                  •               Becoming Imperialist: Italian Colonies in Fascist Textbooks for Primary Schools, in Journal of Modern Italian Studies, Vol. 18, No. 5, 2013. [Peer-reviewed article; ranked in Class A by ANVUR for Area 11, Sector 11/A3].

                  •               Mens Sana in Corpore Sano: The 1932 National Reclamation Exhibition and the Regeneration of the Nation’s Body, in S. Aru & V. Deplano (Eds.), Building a Nation: Policies, Discourses, and Representations That Shaped Italy, Ombre Corte, Verona, 2013. ISBN: 978-88-97522-44-7.

                  •               Building a New Colonial Subject? The Fascist Education System in Albania and Ethiopia, in L. Berge & I. Taddia (Eds.), Themes in Modern African History and Culture, Edizioni Libreriauniversitaria.it, Padua, 2013. ISBN: 978-88-6292-385-9.

                  •               British Eyes on the Italian Empire: Katherine Fannin’s Journey in Italian East Africa, in A. Pes (Ed.), Mare Nostrum: Fascist Colonialism Between Reality and Representation, Aipsa, Cagliari, 2012, pp. 11–35. ISBN: 978-88-95692-73-9.

                  •               Mussolini’s Word: Propagandistic Speeches and Collective Emotions in Fascist Italy, in P. Morris, F. Ricatti, M. Seymour (Eds.), Politics and Emotions in Italian History From 1848 to the Present, Viella, Rome, 2012, pp. 133–148. [Peer-reviewed chapter]. ISBN: 978-88-833-4698-9.

                  •               The Ethiopian Elite and the Graziani Administration in Italian East Africa: The Construction of a Colonial Society, in Clio, Vol. 45, No. 2, 2009, pp. 227–50. [Peer-reviewed article]. ISSN: 0391-6731.

                  •               An Empire of Words: Italian East Africa in Benito Mussolini’s Speeches, in B. Carcangiu & T. Negash (Eds.), Italian East Africa in Contemporary Historical Criticism, Carocci, Rome, 2007, pp. 287–299. ISBN: 978-88-430-4616-4.

                  •               *The Sardinian Press and Women’s Suffrage: The Case of L’Unione Sarda, in C. Dau Novelli (Ed.), In the Name of Women’s Empowerment: Women and Political Democracy in Italy and the World, Aipsa, Cagliari, 2007, pp. 122–132. ISBN: 978-87636-99-4.

Curriculum Last Updated: December 2024.