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SUMMARY:Anatomy of a Reparation: Disappearance and Ruination after the Age of Empire
DESCRIPTION:In this lecture, Emilio Distretti examines Italy’s colonial legacy in Libya through the unresolved politics of restitution and reparation across the Mediterranean.
 
Taking the 2008 Italy–Libya Treaty of Friendship as a starting point, Distretti traces connections between colonial violence and contemporary migration control. Through colonial penal colonies, museums, mass graves, and migrant cemeteries, he considers how spaces and institutions produce anonymity, erase histories, and leave questions of identity, mourning, and return unresolved.
 
Presented by The Africa Institute at Global Studies University, the lecture takes place as part of the final semester of the Restitution and Reparation: Africa and the Post-Colonial Condition Fellowship. The session is moderated by Mohamed Faroug A. Ali, Visiting Associate Professor of Archaeology at The Africa Institute, GSU.
 
Thursday, October 8, 2026
12:30–2:30 p.m.
GSU Auditorium, Global Studies University, Sharjah
About the Speaker
Emilio Distretti is a London-based researcher, writer, and educator at the Royal College of Art’s School of Architecture, and a Restitution and Reparation: Africa and the Post-Colonial Condition Fellow at The Africa Institute, Global Studies University. His work brings together writing, teaching, and collaborative practice to examine the afterlives of colonial architecture and spatial and material heritage through critical preservation, spatial justice, and transnational struggles for reparation. Read more.
About the Moderator
Mohamed Faroug A. Ali is a Visiting Associate Professor of Archaeology at The Africa Institute, Global Studies University. He is the co-founder and CEO of the American Sudanese Archaeological Research Center (AmSARC), Executive Director of the Sudanese Archaeologists Union, and Assistant Professor of Archaeology at the International University of Africa, Sudan. Read more.
About the Fellowships
The Restitution and Reparation: Africa and the Post-Colonial Condition Fellowship at The Africa Institute, Global Studies University, is supported by the Open Society Foundations. The fellowship supports critical inquiry into restitution, repatriation, and reparation in Africa and its diaspora, with a lecture series that brings these questions into discussion through research, dialogue, and exchange. Learn more.
LOCATION:GSU Auditorium
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261008
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261008
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