Talk: Colonial Dreams to Fascist Empire

Colonial Dreams to Fascist Empire: Italian Aggression, Ethiopian Resistance in the 19th & 20th Centuries

Despite the significance and international impact of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935–37 in the lead-up to World War II, its history is not widely known. In this talk, Dr. David B. Spielman will examine the historical context behind the Second Italian War of Aggression, and Italy’s subsequent occupation of Ethiopia from 1935 to 1941. In particular, he will address the history of Italian colonialism in the Horn of Africa and Ethiopian anti-colonial and anti-facist resistance.

Dr. David B. Spielman is an Assistant Professor of premodern/early modern history of the Horn of Africa at NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study. His focus is on the premodern/early modern Christian Kingdoms of Ethiopia, but his research interests also include Ethiopian/Eritrean Ge’ez literature, Ethiopian/Eritrean religion and theology, Horn of Africa manuscript cultures, law, African history, global history and more. He earned his PhD in History from UCLA and is currently working on his first book which examines the history of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the law of the Kingdom of Ethiopia in the 15th–19th centuries.