Mobility across the Atlantic has been shaped by a century of interaction between the West and the Horn of Africa. In its early years of independence in the 1940s, Ethiopia’s relationship with the West was highly complex. While Ethiopia fought brutal wars against Italian invasion, the British and American roles in defeating Italy during World War II laid the foundation for eight decades of Western intervention in the region.
This talk focuses on Haile Selassie, a central figure represented in the fragment, as a contradiction-laden embodiment of this history. In examining Ethiopia’s history as a key site of Western involvement on the African continent, this talk highlights how state relationships and global systems of power across the Atlantic have produced and shaped the movement of people to and from Africa.
Caption: Legging fragment (detail), Ethiopia, 20th century. Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection T-1790. Photo by Bruce M. White Photography.
