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SH6_9 Colonial and post-colonial history

Energies in connection. Community welfare and sustainable agricultural supply chains.

GSPS-04/C History and Institutions of Africa

Durata: 

Coordinator: 

Prof. Federica Guazzini
Dettagli del progetto
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Mirella Madafferi

Close-up of the PhD student

Mirella Madafferi

Ph.D. student
XLI cycle (2025-2028)
Diplomacy and international cooperation
Ph.D. program in “Frontier Sciences in Sustainability, Diplomacy, and International Cooperation”
Department of International Humanities and Social Sciences (SUSI)
Curriculum Vitae

José Martí’s ideal within the Cuban revolutionary process and in Fidel Castro’s political discourse

Fidel Castro defined José Martí as the intellectual and moral author of the assault on the Moncada Barracks in 1953, placing the Cuban revolutionary action that culminated in 1959 in historical continuity with the independence processes of the late 19th century. This made it possible to define the Castro revolutionary process not as an isolated rupture, but rather as the fulfillment of national independence.
The project aims to analyze to what extent the Cuban Revolution was inspired by Marti's ideals, examining continuities and divergences in the governing practices of the Revolutionary State after World War II and within the political discourse of Fidel Castro.

Research Interests

History of colonialism in Latin America; History of contemporary Latin America; Latin American independence movements; History of Latin American political thought; José Martí; Cuban Revolution; Anti-imperialism and nationalism in Latin America; Construction of national identity in Cuba;

Luca Percalli

Close-up of the PhD student

Luca Percalli

Ph.D. student
XLI cycle (2025-2028)
Diplomacy and international cooperation
Ph.D. program in “Frontier Sciences in Sustainability, Diplomacy, and International Cooperation”
Department of International Humanities and Social Sciences (SUSI)
Curriculum Vitae

Province, republic, monarchy...and back to province. Congo and the secession of South Kasai between agency and neocolonialism, 1956-1962.

The project aims to analyze the secession of South Kasai, a central episode that has been only weakly investigated within the broader Congo crisis of the early 1960s. In doing so, the research will attempt to take into account both neo-colonial aspects and distinctly local factors of the Kasai question.
On the one hand, by analyzing the extensive support provided to the secession by the Belgian authorities, the major diamond companies operating in the area, and the promoters of the other Congolese secession—that of Katanga—the project intends to contribute to the debate on the neo-colonial elements of the crisis. On the other hand, in light of the crucial role played by local actors, the project aims to contribute to the important debate on African agency. Two of the most important reasons behind the secession, in fact, can be found in interethnic tensions and power struggles at the top for access to political power and resources.
Overall, the research activity aims to shed light on an episode that is still little known, yet nonetheless central, in the troubled post-colonial period of the Congo, and thereby improve understanding of one of the most significant political crises of the 1960s. A crisis so important that it produced lasting and profound consequences not only within Congo's borders, but also at both the regional and international levels.

Research Interests

International relations, African history, economic history, history of international relations, postcolonial studies.

Federica Guazzini

Federica Guazzini

Federica Guazzini

Professor
Full Professor
GSPS-04/C (ex SPS/13)
Department of International Humanities and Social Sciences (SUSI)
Curriculum Vitae

Research Areas

Biographical Note

Federica Guazzini, PhD in African History, is a Full Professor of History and Institutions of Africa at the Department of International Human and Social Sciences of the University for Foreigners of Perugia, where she coordinates the Double Degree program between the Master's degree course in International Relations and Development Cooperation (RICS) and the Master's programme in African Studies (Dalarna University). She is a member of the Academic Board of the PhD program in "Frontiers Sciences in Sustainability, Diplomacy, and International Cooperation"; and a member of the Scientific Committee for the "Diplomacy and International Cooperation" curriculum, 40th cycle, academic year 2024-2025.

Institutional roles:

  • Rector's Delegate for International Mobility and the Erasmus+ program
  • Rector's Delegate for International Relations (Africa area)
  • University representative for the UNIMED Network (Mediterranean Universities Union).
  • Member of the University Coordination for Development Cooperation (CUCS).
  • Co-founder of the ASAFAL inter-university research center (Comparative Area Studies Center: Asia, Africa, Latin America).

Trained as a historian, Federica Guazzini focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, mainly the Horn of Africa and, in particular, Eritrea and Ethiopia in both the colonial and contemporary eras. Her research has concentrated on two main areas: political history and social history, ranging from border studies to conflicts and nationalisms, from colonial imperialism to the early 21st century. In this field, she has paid particular attention to the issue of primary sources, with a constant commitment to expanding the range of unpublished sources, while reflecting on related epistemological issues. A more recent line of research concerns mobility and migration in sub-Saharan Africa, approached from the perspective of regional integration processes and with particular focus on the role of the African Union, including the impact on Euro-African relations through qualitative research and policy analysis at the regional and international levels.

Go to the publications on IRIS

Lessons

2025/2026

  • Africa e europa: politiche della cooperazione, asilo e flussi migratori1 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Corso di formazione e aggiornamento "mediatori europei per l'intercultura e la coesione sociale"

  • Laboratorio: nuove forme della cooperazione internazionale: ideazione e gestione dei progetti3 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Relazioni internazionali e cooperazione allo sviluppo

  • Africa and globalization9 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Scienze sociali per la sostenibilità  e la cooperazione internazionale

  • Relazioni internazionali e sviluppo in africa6 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Relazioni internazionali e cooperazione allo sviluppo

  • Laboratorio: approaches to empires in modern history of africa: from colonialism to globalisation3 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Relazioni internazionali e cooperazione allo sviluppo

2024/2025

  • Perch㩠㨠importante l’etica nella ricerca1 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Frontier sciences in sustainability, diplomacy and international cooperation

  • Relazioni internazionali e sviluppo in africa6 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Relazioni internazionali e cooperazione allo sviluppo

  • Laboratorio: nuove forme della cooperazione internazionale: ideazione e gestione dei progetti3 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Relazioni internazionali e cooperazione allo sviluppo

  • Relazioni internazionali e sviluppo in africa6 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Relazioni internazionali e cooperazione allo sviluppo

  • Laboratorio: approaches to empires in modern history of africa: from colonialism to globalisation3 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Relazioni internazionali e cooperazione allo sviluppo

  • Africa and globalization9 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Studi internazionali per la sostenibilita' e la sicurezza sociale

2023/2024

  • Relazioni internazionali e sviluppo in africa6 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Relazioni internazionali e cooperazione allo sviluppo

  • Laboratorio: approaches to empires in modern history of africa: from colonialism to globalisation3 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Relazioni internazionali e cooperazione allo sviluppo

  • Laboratorio: nuove forme della cooperazione internazionale: ideazione e gestione dei progetti3 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Relazioni internazionali e cooperazione allo sviluppo

  • Africa and globalization9 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Studi internazionali per la sostenibilita' e la sicurezza sociale

2022/2023

  • Sviluppo e cooperazione in africa2 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Dottorato di ricerca in scienze linguistiche, filologico-letterarie e politico-sociali

  • Relazioni internazionali e sviluppo in africa6 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Relazioni internazionali e cooperazione allo sviluppo

  • Laboratorio: approaches to empires in modern history of africa: from colonialism to globalisation3 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Relazioni internazionali e cooperazione allo sviluppo

  • Laboratorio: nuove forme della cooperazione internazionale: ideazione e gestione dei progetti3 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Relazioni internazionali e cooperazione allo sviluppo

  • Africa and globalization9 CFU

    Corso di laurea: Studi internazionali per la sostenibilita' e la sicurezza sociale