Fabrizio Eva: Deconstructing Italy; Italians and their Perception of Territoriality
Perceptions and conceptions of tribal, national, or regional territory – our social and physical environment – reflect and impact our politics and culture. A state’s political motivations are often expressed in territorial identity. Geographic and social identity, laws and ethics attached to human migration, economic parameters, and border politics are deeply connected to our theories and practices around social and individual relations to the space around us.
Fabrizio Eva, a geographer and professor at the University of Venice, is widely cited on the topics of geopolitics, culture and territory, economy, geography, and human migration.
Below is an excerpt from Eva’s analysis during a conference with a focus on “Nationalism and identities in a Globalized World.” Eva picks apart contemporary and historical understandings of territorality in Italy, and their effects on politics and economy. He highlights a change in attitude, and the rising notion of regionally independent policies within Italy.
“Today’s unified Italy is the result of a combination of external factors (various ‘national’
agitations in Europe, and geostrategic support from France and, to some extent, Great Britain)
and internal factors (such as the expansionist aspirations of the Savoy family—rulers of
Piedmont and Sardinia—and the positions taken by an active contingent of the Italian
intelligentsia and nobility, particularly in the north). For a variety of reasons, the most strongly
federalist and outspoken of the autonomous parties were overwhelmed by the supporters of
unification to the point that the extensive debate of 1831–61 regarding the future shape of Italy
has now been relegated to a few pages in school history books. Even ten years ago, the unity and centralised administration of the state and nation were not topics for discussion, this partly
being the result of the rampant nationalism of the Fascist period followed by the Christian
Democrats holding the leading role in government from 1948 to 1994.”
Recommended and related reading: Simon Schama’s book, “Landscape and Memory“
Nima Maleki: Politics and Critical Thought 