Migration at the End of Empire

How has migration shaped Mediterranean history? What role did conflicting temporalities and the politics of departure play in the age of decolonisation? Using a microhistorical approach Migration at the End of Empire explores these questions through the experiences of over 55000 Italian subjects in Egypt during the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Before 1937 Ottoman-era legal regimes fostered the coupling of nationalism and imperialism among Italians in Egypt particularly as the fascist government sought to revive the myth of Mare Nostrum. With decolonisation however Italians began abandoning Egypt en masse. By 1960 over 40000 had deserted Egypt; some as 'emigrants' others as 'repatriates' and still others as 'national refugees'. The departed community became an emblem around which political actors in post-colonial Italy and Egypt forged new ties. These anticipated actual and remembered departures are at the heart of this book's ambition to rethink European and Mediterranean periodisation.