Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on Eritrean narratives and practices of identity among the diaspora in Milan during the liberation movement and after independence. It looks at how memories may inform both about the past and about the present balances and power dynamics.

Paper long abstract:

The Eritrean national identity is a very interesting case to understand changing collective memories and diasporic consciousness. Among the Eritrean diaspora living in Milan, the former supporters of the EPLF have pictured a very neat image of the subjects of history. Written and oral narratives of the golden past of the exile Eritrean community and present political situation in Eritrea are so strongly that built to allow an analysis of the process of nation building during the liberation struggle and after. The intellectual and political discourses drastically changed in the last decade but seek a thread of continuation from the past to the present. The material used sprung from the data collected during the 2003 festival in Milan and gathered around the topic of the former festival of Bologna. The difference between the participatory sphere of the festival during the liberation war and the commemoration event of the post-war editions of the festival cast special interest on the recent production of great-subjects of history and of a specific power over memory by the present political elite in the diaspora and in Eritrea. This presentation analyses a case-study where history is seen from today. It shows the developments and shifts in self-definitions which include redefinitions of who the enemies and allies may become depending on the temporal and spatial point of view. The use of memories by the diaspora needs to be looked at to understand the global dimension of African identities.