Imperialisti ai margini? Colonialismo esterno e nation-building in Sardegna e Corsica

Imperialism participated in the nation-building process: on the one hand, it provided cultural and discursive materials that supported the “nationalization” of citizens; on the other hand, it provided work and life perspectives that facilitated the participation of individuals in the expansionist project, at the same time strengthening ties with the State that promoted it. This essay discusses how these mechanisms played a role in the process of «nationalization» of two national peripheries, Sardinia for Italy and Corsica for France. Between the end of the 19th and the first decades of the 20th century, the two islands were formally integrated into the national state, but the assimilation process was not complete; in both – in Corsica before the World War, in Sardinia after – the first regionalist movements had also developed. Furthermore, both islands had an emigration tendency that could make them particularly sensitive to colonial prospects. Through the comparison between the studies published on this theme about Corsica; and the historiography, memorials, and journalistic analysis of Sardinia in particular in the fascist period, the essay proposes a comparison between the methods and the actual results of the involvement of Sardinians and Corsicans in the Italian and French imperialist projects, reflecting in particular on the repercussions of this involvement in the self-representation of the two populations; and on the position in this regard of the first regionalist experiences of the two islands. In conclusion, the essay investigates whether this self-representation has changed with decolonization, and with what differences between the two islands.