Religion as Resistance: Negotiating Authority in Italian Libya

Description

During the Italian occupation of Libya, debates over where Italy should be on the continuum between coercion and collaboration in colonial rule often reflected contentious battles over religious identity in Italian nationalism. These tensions came into sharpest relief in the Italian attempts to develop a power-sharing relationship with elite members of the Muslim Sufi order, the Sanusiyya in eastern Libya. Perceptions of the Sanusiyya as religious fundamentalists suggested to some the utility of emphasizing a shared sense of religious conservatism to “sell” Italian colonial rule. Others, however, argued that only a secular identity in colonial rule would prevent Muslim opposition to Italian occupation. Descriptions of the Sanusiyya in Italian sources therefore reflected their authors’ conflicting interests in projecting a Catholic or secular identity in Italian expansion. Adherents of the Sanusiyya were likewise divided in their responses to Italian colonial rule. In the early stages of the Italian occupation, Sanusi elites recognized the utility of negotiating a position of political authority in relationship to the Italian colonial state. As the fascist regime pushed colonial rule further toward coercion than collaboration (and embraced a Catholic identity in the process) in the 1920s, some Sanusi factions redefined the Sufi order as a force of anticolonial opposition and a nascent nationalist movement. This book explores the shifting relationship between religious and national identity through the process of negotiating colonial rule among both Italian imperialists and Sanusi elites. Cover Half title Religion as Resistance Copyright Dedication Contents List of Maps List of Figures Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration Introduction 1 Italian Imperialism and Sanusi Authority at the Turn of the Century Italian Imperialism before Libya After Adwa: A Turn to Conciliation The Sanusiyya on the Eve of Italian Occupation Imperial Circuits of Knowledge: Sanusiyya and Central Authorities Armaments and Regional Alliances Conclusion 2 Crafting an Italian Approach to Colonial Rule Insabato and the “Pro-​Islamic” Approach Muhammad ʿAli ʿAlawi and the Sanusi Connection Expectations of Economic Benefits from the Italian Occupation Catholic Nationalism in Support of Empire Missionaries and Nationalism in the Libyan Territories Conclusion 3 Occupation, War, and the Transformation of the Sanusiyya Reassessments of the Sanusiyya The Ministry of Colonies and the Politica dei capi World War I and the Sanusiyya Replacing the “Grand Senusso” Limiting Religious Authority in the Era of Negotiations Occupation and the Catholic Missionaries Conclusion 4 Railways and Resistance: Idris al-​Sanusi’s Fall from Power Railroads and Camels: Transportation and Sanusi Authority Railway Construction under the al-​Rajma Accord Losing Consensus in the Sanusiyya Ahmad al-​Sharif in Pan-​Islamic Networks Local Officials in Revolt against Rome Conclusion 5 Religion and Power in the Fascist Colonies Luigi Federzoni and the End of Italo-​Sanusi Relations The Violence of Squadrismo in the Libyan Territories Negotiating Power in the “Reconquest” Italian Prestige and the Culture of Colonialism Fascism and Catholicism in the Libyan Territories Conclusion Conclusions Essay on Sources: Memories of Resistance in Libyan Oral History Notes Bibliography Index