The failed invasion of Ethiopia by Italy in 1935 is focus of novelist Maaza Mengiste’s book, The Shadow King, and she recently used events from that time to address inclusion at a global virtual conference held to discuss pluralism and cohesion.
Maaza’s lecture titled, The Moment of Encounter: History, Disruptions, and Transformations, dwelt on how difficult histories of war and colonisation can help build inclusivity. Maaza used old pictures of Italian soldiers sent to “capture” Ethiopia, after the failed attempt in the 1896 Battle of Adowa, to reconstruct the power dynamics then.
