Alessandro Triulzi (born 1941 in

Rome, Italy Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

) is an Italian

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

, Africanist and since 2011

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

African History Archaic humans emerged out of Africa between 0.5 and 1.8 million years ago. This was followed by the emergence of modern humans (''Homo sapiens'') in East Africa around 300,000–250,000 years ago. In the 4th millennium BC written history ...

and former Vice Director of the African and Arab Studies Department at the Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale" at

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. He studied

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

for a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in 1966 and obtained a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in History at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

in 1981. Triulzi performed

field work Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the empirical research, collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across branches of science, disciplines. ...

among the

Ashanti people The Asante, also known as Ashanti in English (), are part of the Akan people, Akan ethnic group and are native to the Ashanti Region of modern-day Ghana. Asantes are the last group to emerge out of the various Akan civilisations. Twi is spoken by ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

(1969), and the Berta and

Oromo people The Oromo people (, pron. ) are a Cushitic peoples, Cushitic ethnic group native to the Oromia region of Ethiopia and parts of Northern Kenya. They speak the Oromo language (also called ''Afaan Oromoo''), which is part of the Cushitic language ...

in Wallaga, West

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. He worked in Ethiopia,

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

and

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

during 1970–1973, and again in Ethiopia during 1985–2005. He taught at the

University of Perugia The University of Perugia ( Italian ''Università degli Studi di Perugia'') is a public university in Perugia, Italy. It was founded in 1308, as attested by the Bull issued by Pope Clement V certifying the birth of the Studium Generale. The offi ...

(

ethnology Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Sci ...

, 1972–1973) and the University of Naples "L'Orientale" (history of

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

, 1973–1985;

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and institutions of Ethiopia, 1985–1998). Triulzi was

Visiting Professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

at the

University of Addis Ababa Addis Ababa University (; AAU) is a national university located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is the oldest university in Ethiopia. AAU has thirteen campuses. Twelve of these are situated in Addis Ababa, and one is located in Bishoftu, about away. ...

(1994, 1998), the

School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (, EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The school awards Master and PhD degrees alone and conjo ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(École des hautes études en sciences sociales, 2004), and

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

(2008). From 1995 up to 2010 he coordinated the PhD program in

African Studies African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's History of Africa, history (pre-colonial, Colonisation of Af ...

at the University of Naples "L'Orientale". Triulzi is an Advisory Board Member of

AEGIS The aegis ( ; ''aigís''), as stated in the ''Iliad'', is a device carried by Athena and Zeus, variously interpreted as an animal skin or a shield and sometimes featuring the head of a Gorgon. There may be a connection with a deity named Aex, a ...

(Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies), a network of African studies academic centres in Europe. He researched various topics in African studies, ranging from the restructuring of post-colonial African states, colonial photography, the

history of Ethiopia Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in Africa; the emergence of Ethiopian civilization dates back thousands of years. Abyssinia or rather "Ze Etiyopia" was ruled by the Semitic Abyssinians (Habesha) composed mainly of the Amhara, Tigrayans and ...

, to the recollection of Italy's colonial violence. In 2007 Triulzi was awarded the Premio Giorgio Maria Sangiorgi prize for the History and Ethnology of Africa by the

Accademia dei Lincei The (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed"), anglicised as the Lincean Academy, is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy. Founded in ...

Publications

Triulzi published many scholarly books and research articles on Africa, including: * ''Prelude to the history of a no man's land : Bela Shangul, Wallagga, Ethiopia (ca. 1800-1898)'', Dissertation, Northwestern University 1980. * with Thomas Leiper Kane Collection (Library of Congress Hebraic Section): ''Salt, gold, and legitimacy : prelude to the history of a no-man's land, Belā Shangul, Wallaggā, Ethiopia (ca. 1800-1898)'', Istituto universitario orientale, Napoli 1981. * ''Fotografia e storia dell’Africa'', Napoli 1995. * with P. T. W. Baxter, Jan Hultin: ''Being and becoming Oromo : historical and anthropological enquiries'', Nordiska Afrikainstitutet ; Red Sea Press, Inc., Uppsala, Lawrenceville, N.J. 1996. * with M. Buttino and M. C. Ercolessi (Eds.): ''Uomini in armi. Costruzioni etniche e violenza politica'', Napoli 2000. * with W. James, D. Donham, O. Kurimoto (Eds.): ''Remapping Ethiopia: socialism & after'', Oxford 2002. * with M.C. Ercolessi (Eds): ''State, Power and New Political Actors in Postcolonial Africa'', Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, ANNALI, 38 (2002), Milano 2004. * with T. Ta'a: ''Documents for Wallaga history: (1880s-1920s E.C.) Vol. 1 Amharic Texts'',

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

2004. * ''Dopo la violenza. Costruzioni di memoria nel mondo contemporaneo'', Napoli 2005. * ''Il ritorno della memoria coloniale'', dossier Afriche & Orienti 1, Asmara 2007. * with Fikirte Inghida and others: ''Come un uomo sulla terra = Like a man on Earth'', video documentary, Archives of Migrants Memories involving Asinitas, ZaLab and AAMOD. ZaLab, Padua, 2008 * with G. Barrera and Gabriel Tzeggai: ''Architettura e pianificazione urbana nei fondi dell'IsIAO'' (Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente), Rome 2008. * with Marco Carsetti: ''Come un uomo sulla terra'', Rome 2009. * with U. Chelati Dirat et al.: ''Pubblicazioni collettanee recenti: Colonia e postcolonia come spazi diasporici'', Carocci 2011. * with A. Mignemi, P. Bertella-Farnetti, and R. L. McKenzie: ''Long Journeys. African Migrants on the Road'', Brill 2013. * ''L’impero nel cassetto'', Mimesis 2013. * with Arnoldo Mosca Mondadori, Alfonso Cacciatore: ''Bibbia e Corano a Lampedusa'', La Scuola 2014. * with P. Di Luca and N. Cangi: ''Parole oltre le frontiere'', Terre di Mezzo 2018.

References

External links

* Video. LibreriaGRIOT. Duration 4m 0s. Lecture by Triulzi on "Africa between the lines - Biography of a continent" on 4 October 2010. In Italian. Consulted on 29 September 2022. * Video.Nicola De Carlo. Duration 24m 20s. 13 March 2018. Alessandro Triulzi comments on the amnesia and the repressed historical recollection of the Italian colonial rule in East Africa. In Italian. Consulted on 29 September 2022. * Video. Duration 64m 26s. Presentation by Alessandro Triulzi at the second session of the Scuola di formazione per attori dell'accoglienza Le strade del mondo 2020, entitled "Memorie migranti", on 8 October 2020. In Italian. Consulted on 29 September 2022. {{DEFAULTSORT:Triulzi, Alessandro Sapienza University of Rome alumni Northwestern University alumni Academic staff of the University of Naples "L'Orientale" Italian Africanists Italian historians Living people 1941 births Academic staff of Addis Ababa University Academic staff of the University of Perugia Boston University faculty Fellows of the British Academy Slavery in Africa