Italy Is Like Canada? Linking Decolonial Experiences

Recent governments in New Brunswick — including the newly elected Holt government — have reiterated their refusal to change the name of the St. John River to the Wolastoq, despite ongoing calls from Wolastoqey Elders and other advocates to decolonize the name of the province’s largest river.

The power of place names, particularly in former and current colonial states, is once again in the spotlight following high-profile decisions like the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico by a U.S. president. These acts serve as reminders of the deep significance names carry — not just in marking geography but in shaping collective memory and identity.

On March 14, Dr. Chiara Falangola, a professor of French at the University of New Brunswick, delivered a talk at the university’s Fredericton campus exploring this very issue from a global perspective. Titled “Decolonizing Rome: Postcolonial Female Gaze and Critical Odonomastics” (odonomastics being the study of place names), her presentation delved into Italy’s own troubled colonial legacy and the contemporary efforts to confront it.

Falangola focused on Rome Denied: Postcolonial Itineraries in the City (2014), a collaborative book by Somali-Italian author Igiaba Scego and Italian photographer Rino Bianchi. The book blends text and photography to chart a decolonial map of Rome, questioning the glorification of colonial figures through the city's streets and monuments.

Like many European nations, modern Italy built a colonial empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During this period, it occupied parts of Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Libya, leaving behind a legacy of violence and exploitation. Falangola, who is of mixed Italian and Eritrean heritage, acknowledged her own complicated ties to this history, describing herself as a product of that imperial past.

For much of her life, she said, she experienced what she called “colonial amnesia” or “colonial oblivion” — a widespread phenomenon in Italy, where the government has long portrayed itself as the “rightful custodian” of names and history. This erasure helps maintain what Falangola referred to as the myth of Italians as “decent people,” a myth increasingly challenged by postcolonial voices and activists.

Falangola explained how works like Rome Denied aim to “debunk the colonial myth” and expose the realities of Italy’s imperial past — a past that includes over 700,000 deaths, the use of chemical weapons, pogroms, internment camps, forced concubinage, and apartheid in its African colonies.

During her presentation, Falangola examined several of the book’s striking photographs. Each features decolonized female subjects — all Italians of mixed race — posed in colonial-era locations: streets, bridges, and plazas still named after generals, battles, or occupied territories. Through their presence and gaze, these women impose a silent critique of the space and the viewer, reclaiming visibility in a landscape shaped by colonial violence.

This visual and spatial reappropriation echoes efforts closer to home — from the decapitation of statues of colonial figures in Canada to campaigns to rename buildings linked to slave owners in Fredericton. These acts, like those in Italy, confront the legacy of empire and ask us to consider: Who has the right to name, and what histories do those names carry?

Falangola’s Feminist Lunch talk was organized by the UNB/STU University Women’s Centre in Fredericton in collaboration with a variety of other groups.

Sophie M. Lavoie is a member of the NB Media Co-op’s editorial board and a Board member of the UNB/STU University Women’s Centre.

This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS).