Recovering Eritrea’s Lost Printed Past

Recovering Eritrea’s Lost Printed Past

This episode on Eritrawi Podcast explores the evolution of literacy and print culture in Eritrea through the lens of early printed materials, private letters, and recent preservation efforts.


Drawing on the work of historian Dr. Massimo Zaccaria and the Research and Documentation Center in Asmara, we examine a major digitization project that documented over 750 local titles printed between 1867 and 1941. Using a self-reliant, low-tech approach, this initiative demonstrates how cultural heritage can be preserved without dependence on external funding.


The episode also traces a critical shift in written culture during the early 20th century. Military service in Libya exposed Eritrean askaris to new forms of communication, accelerating the use of private letters and photography. For the first time, individuals from subordinate social groups began documenting personal experiences in their own voices.


These letters and printed materials mark a transition away from purely religious and administrative texts toward a more personal, lived archive one that allows us to reconstruct everyday life, emotion, and social dynamics in colonial Eritrea.


Together, these sources reveal how fragile documents, often produced on cheap materials and nearly lost to time, have become essential tools for understanding the social and cultural history of Eritrea

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Episoder(128)

British Military Administration of Occupied Territories in Africa - Eritrea 1941-1947

British Military Administration of Occupied Territories in Africa - Eritrea 1941-1947

In 1941, British forces took Eritrea from Fascist Italy and inherited an economy built to sustain Italy's imperial ambitions in East Africa.Behind the imposing marble banks and colonial infrastructure...

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How Eritrea Became a Nation: Newspapers, Politics and the Struggle for Unity

How Eritrea Became a Nation: Newspapers, Politics and the Struggle for Unity

How Eritrea Became a Nation: Newspapers, Politics and the Struggle for UnityHow did Eritrea's people begin to imagine themselves as part of a single nation?In the 1940s, Eritrea emerged from Italian c...

13 Sep 21min

How Massawa, Eritrea Helped Defeat the Nazis in North Africa

How Massawa, Eritrea Helped Defeat the Nazis in North Africa

How Massawa, Eritrea Helped Defeat the Nazis in North AfricaIn 1941, the British captured Massawa, Eritrea — only to find one of the most strategically important harbours on the Red Sea deliberately w...

6 Sep 22min

Madamato: Italian Men, Eritrean Women — Race, Intimacy and Power in Colonial Eritrea

Madamato: Italian Men, Eritrean Women — Race, Intimacy and Power in Colonial Eritrea

Madamato: Italian Men, Eritrean Women — Race, Intimacy and Power in Colonial EritreaBetween 1885 and 1941, relationships between Italian men and Eritrean women became deeply entangled with the constru...

23 Aug 23min

Inventing Italian Eritrea Rosalia Pianavia Vivaldi and the Colonial Imagination

Inventing Italian Eritrea Rosalia Pianavia Vivaldi and the Colonial Imagination

What did Italian colonizers actually see when they looked at Eritrea, and how much of what they described was a projection of themselves?This episode examines the literary construction of Italian Erit...

9 Aug 13min

Episode 2 The Livraghi Scandal (1891) Italy's First Colonial Scandal in Eritrea

Episode 2 The Livraghi Scandal (1891) Italy's First Colonial Scandal in Eritrea

The Livraghi scandal did not end with the arrests—it transformed into one of the most consequential political and legal dramas in modern Italian history.Following Lieutenant Dario Livraghi's capture i...

25 Jul 8min

Episode 1: The Livraghi Scandal (1891) | Italy's First Colonial Scandal in Eritrea

Episode 1: The Livraghi Scandal (1891) | Italy's First Colonial Scandal in Eritrea

1891, the Livraghi scandal became the first major public exposure of Italian colonial atrocities in Eritrea. What began as an investigation into two colonial officials—Lieutenant Dario Livraghi and go...

18 Jul 19min

The Construction of Racial Hierarchies in Colonial Eritrea

The Construction of Racial Hierarchies in Colonial Eritrea

This episode explores one of the most misunderstood aspects of Italian colonial rule in Eritrea. Drawing on the research of historian Giulia Barrera, it examines how racial hierarchy was not an accide...

12 Jul 26min

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