In the name of the mother, the father, and the countryman. Italo-Eritreans navigating citizenship in the Horn of Africa (1940s–2000s)

This article examines the practices implemented by Italo-Eritreans to acquire, retain, or relinquish African or European citizenship, set against the backdrop of significant historical transformations in the Horn of Africa. It explores the intricate dynamics of citizenship through the case of Franco Villa, an Italo-Eritrean born in the early 1940s in Asmara to an Eritrean mother and an Italian father. It illuminates how individual experiences and community narratives challenge the assumption that European citizenship is the primary aspiration. The Italo-Eritrean community is heterogeneous, and its members employ a variety of strategies to navigate the complexities of citizenship. These include de-kinning and re-kinning, which allow individuals to negotiate the most advantageous citizenship status. Based on a micro-historical approach anchored in oral histories, the analysis discloses that citizenship-as-practice, a time-dependent and gendered practice, is shaped by individual aspirations for mobility and stability. Franco Villa’s experiences reflect the inherent tension between an individual’s status civitatis and the societal perceptions that affect everyday life in contexts shaped by racialization and ethnicization like Eritrea, Italy, and Ethiopia.