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Books by Fraser Ottanelli

In October 1967, early in the Nigerian Civil War, government troops entered Asaba in pursuit of t... more In October 1967, early in the Nigerian Civil War, government troops entered Asaba in pursuit of the retreating Biafran army, slaughtering thousands of civilians and leaving the town in ruins. News of the atrocity was suppressed by the Nigerian government, with the complicity of Britain, and its significance in the subsequent progress of that conflict was misunderstood. Drawing on archival sources on both sides of the Atlantic and interviews with survivors of the killing, pillaging and rape, as well as with high-ranking Nigerian military and political leaders, S. Elizabeth Bird and Fraser M. Ottanelli offer an interdisciplinary reconstruction of the history of the Asaba Massacre, redefining it as a pivotal point in the history of the war. Through this, they also explore the long afterlife of trauma, the reconstruction of memory and how it intersects with justice, and the task of reconciliation in a nation where a legacy of ethnic suspicion continues to reverberate

Assassins Against the Older Order: Italian Anarchist Violence in fin-de-siècle Europe (University... more Assassins Against the Older Order: Italian Anarchist Violence in fin-de-siècle Europe (University of Illinois Press, 2018.)
Co-authored by Fraser M. Ottanelli and the late Nunzio Pernicone, the book provides a full-length study of the historical, economic, cultural, and political conditions, along with the transnational experiences in Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland and the United States, that led Italian anarchists to assassinate royal personages and political leaders at the end of the nineteenth century. The six "attentatori" described in this book do not conform to contemporary definitions of terrorists, with their emphasis on the slaughter of innocents. Instead, by virtue of targeting only prominent individuals deemed directly responsible for state violence and oppression, the actions of Italian anarchists were entirely consistent with a revolutionary practice inherited from the radical democrats who spearheaded the fight for national liberation and unity throughout the Risorgimento. Placed within the context of Italy’s grinding poverty and authoritarian methods of dealing with popular unrest and dissent, along with the economic and political pressures that fostered mass migration and the cosmopolitan nature of Italian anarchism, the attentats of the 1890s collectively represented acts of protest and rebellion against a political system and social order based on inequality, exploitation, and oppression.

Journal of American Ethnic History, 2017

Cambridge University Press , 2017

Articles by Fraser Ottanelli

Journal of American Ethnic History, Dec 2007

The Italian American Review, 1999

International Labor and Working-class History, 2004

... Women, Gender and Transna-tional Lives was earthy, and it was based simultaneously on women&#... more ... Women, Gender and Transna-tional Lives was earthy, and it was based simultaneously on women's capacity for and pride in their incredibly harsh physical labor, their sharp tongues (the belle e buone linguegood and beautiful tonguesnoted in an Italian union ditty of the ...

This article explores the consequences of a massacre of civilians in Asaba, a town on the west ba... more This article explores the consequences of a massacre of civilians in Asaba, a town on the west bank of the river Niger, during the early stages of the Nigerian civil war. While ethnically Igbo, Asaba was not part of the Igbo-dominated Biafra, remaining part of the ethnically diverse midwest region. In the international memory of the war, the midwest action, which
claimed several thousand lives, has been eclipsed by the catastrophic events east of the Niger, after the federal blockade of Biafra. This article sheds new light on the human cost of the war on civilian populations outside Biafra. Drawing on interviews with survivors and their descendants, we describe the killings, pillaging and rapes that followed the arrival
of the federal troops, and trace the long-term impact and memory of the physical and human devastation in Asaba on family structure, gender roles, educational opportunities and social structure. We show how the official suppression of the massacres, coupled with Biafran awareness of the events, contributed to the subsequent course of the war, and we
suggest that this suppression has left a legacy that perpetuates resentment and has kept ethnic tensions alive to this day.

The Journal of African Studies, Dec 2011

In early October 1967, four months into the Nigerian Civil War, federal troops massacred hundreds... more In early October 1967, four months into the Nigerian Civil War, federal troops massacred hundreds in Asaba, a town in southeast Nigeria on the west bank of the Niger. While ethnically Igbo, Asaba was not part of Igbo-dominated Biafra. Through the reconstruction of this event, the article fills a significant gap in the historical record and contributes to the discussion on the impact of traumatic memory at the local and national levels. It also suggests that the Asaba massacres speak to larger issues of potential reconciliation that extend beyond Asaba and Nigeria.

Essays by Fraser Ottanelli

Italian Workers of the World: Labor Migration and the Formation of Mutliethnic States, 2001

Book Reviews by Fraser Ottanelli

Documentaries by Fraser Ottanelli

Papers by Fraser Ottanelli

Journal of American Ethnic History, 2017

Cambridge University Press , 2017

Journal of American Ethnic History, Dec 2007

The Italian American Review, 1999

International Labor and Working-class History, 2004

The Journal of African Studies, Dec 2011

Italian Workers of the World: Labor Migration and the Formation of Mutliethnic States, 2001

Assassins against the Old Order, 2018

The first part of Chapter 7 describes the efforts by Italian authorities in conjunction with US l... more The first part of Chapter 7 describes the efforts by Italian authorities in conjunction with US local, state and Federal officials to root out the culprits who presumably had conspired with Bresci to plot King Umberto’s assassination in the United States. The second part analyzes the circumstances surrounding Bresci’s death by strangulation in prison. While authorities claimed that Bresci had taken his own life, based on the available evidence, the chapter lends credence to the view that Bresci was murdered on the orders of Interior Minister Giovanni Giolitti.

University of Illinois Press eBooks, Aug 1, 2018

In May 1898, worsening economic conditions culminated in demonstrations and brutal military inter... more In May 1898, worsening economic conditions culminated in demonstrations and brutal military intervention, centered mainly in Milan, known as the Fatti di Maggio. Chapter 6 describes how the carnage of the Fatti di Maggio along with the increased repression that followed set the stage for the most momentous of all the attentats carried out by an Italian anarchist giustiziere: the assassination of King Umberto I by Gaetano Bresci on July 21, 1900. The chapter traces Bresci’s experiences and political evolution within the radical and working class communities in Prato and, after he migrated, in the dynamic anarchist milieu in Paterson, NJ.

University of Illinois Press eBooks, Aug 1, 2018

Italian anarchists compiled a formidable record of political assassinations during the 1890s: Pre... more Italian anarchists compiled a formidable record of political assassinations during the 1890s: President Marie François Sadi Carnot of France was killed by Santo Caserio in 1894; Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo of Spain by Michele Angiolillo in 1897; Empress Elizabeth of Austria by Luigi Luccheni in 1898; and King Umberto I of Italy by Gaetano Bresci in 1900. No less important were the unsuccessful assassination attempts committed during the same decade: Paolo Lega against Italian Prime Minister Francesco Crispi in 1894; and Pietro Acciarito against King Umberto in 1897. This book, through a specific focus on attentats along with attempted and successful acts of political assassination, provides a full-length study of the historical, economic, social, cultural and political conditions, the social conflicts and left-wing politics along with the transnational experiences in Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland and the United States that led to Italian anarchist violence at the end of the 19th century.

, and we are here at the University of South Florida Tampa Campus Library conducting an oral inte... more , and we are here at the University of South Florida Tampa Campus Library conducting an oral interview with Mr. Fabian Oweazim for the Asaba Memorial Project. Welcome, sir. Could you tell us your name, date of birth, ancestral town, and your place of birth? Fabian Oweazim: Thank you very much. My name is Fabian Oweazim. I am from Asaba. I was born in Jos, which is in Northern Nigeria, on the twenty-fifth of July 1954. So, I turned fifty-five this year. CM: Okay. And in 1967, October, were you living in Asaba? FO: I was living in Asaba. CM: And who were you living with at the time? FO: I was living with my uncle, because my parents lived in Western Nigeria, Ibadan, and I was schooling in Asaba. So, the war cut me off in Asaba. CM: Okay. And with your uncle, how many relatives were you living with?

conducting an oral interview with Mr. Joseph Nwajei on the Asaba Project. Thank you for being her... more conducting an oral interview with Mr. Joseph Nwajei on the Asaba Project. Thank you for being here, sir. Would you please state and spell your name, your place of birth, and your date of birth? Joseph Nwajei: My name is Joseph Nwajei, J-o-s-e-p-h; middle name is Kanayochuwku, K-an a -y-o-c-h-u-w-k-u. The last name is Nwajei, N-w-a-j-e-i. Born at Lagos on the tenth day of June 1951, in Nigeria. CM: Okay. We're here talking about an incident or event that occurred back in 1967, in the city of Asaba. Were you living there at the time? JN: Yes. I remember I was fifteen years old when this incident happened.

Assassins against the Old Order, 2018

The conclusions discusses how political assassinations committed by Italian anarchists were not t... more The conclusions discusses how political assassinations committed by Italian anarchists were not the product of conspiracies carried out by criminals and madmen. Rather they were the consequence of Italy’s grinding poverty and authoritarian methods of dealing with popular unrest and dissent, of the economic and political pressures that fostered mass migration, and finally, of the cosmopolitan nature of Italian anarchism. All six of the attentatori discussed in this book did not engage in acts of terrorism against faceless victims but instead struck out against those monarchs and chiefs of state deemed responsible, directly or indirectly, for crimes perpetrated against themselves, the people, or the anarchist movement.

Assassins against the Old Order

Chapter 5 describes the circumstances leading to and the nature of three attentats: Pietro Acciar... more Chapter 5 describes the circumstances leading to and the nature of three attentats: Pietro Acciarito failed attempt against King Umberto I, Michele Angiolillo assassination of Spanish Prime Minister, Antonio Cánovas del Castillo and Luigi Lucheni’s murder of Empress Elizabeth of Austria. The chapter explains that while Acciarito acted out of desperation shaped by personal economic destitution, Angiolillo’s attentat displayed the characteristics of the anarchist cosmopolitan giustiziere. Like Caserio before him, Angiolillo’s assassination of Cánovas del Castillo, was motivated as a show of solidarity with foreign comrades and as an act of retribution against an individual directly responsible for acts of violence against the innocent. If on a scale of political and moral consciousness Angiolillo’s attentat represents the highest level, the lowest place is occupied by Lucheni’s senseless assassination of Empress Elizabeth of Austria.

Assassins against the Old Order, 2018

Bombings are traditionally associated with anarchism. Through a brief comparative survey, Chapter... more Bombings are traditionally associated with anarchism. Through a brief comparative survey, Chapter 3 explains that while this was a lethal weapon of struggle used by anarchists in Spain and France, the same was not the case for the bombings perpetrated by their Italian comrades. Spanish and French anarchists bombed activities and locations that attracted large numbers of people, especially members of the bourgeoisie. In contrast, instead of an abstract class enemy, Italian anarchists (in whatever country they struck) bombed buildings or targeted specific personalities along with tangible symbols of state power and repressive policies. The determination to strike those held responsible for repressive policies led to two attentats: Paolo Lega’s attempt on Prime Minister Francesco Crispi’s life followed by Sante Caserio’s assassination of the president of France, Marie Francois Sadi Carnot.

The Journal of American History, Sep 1, 1992

University of Illinois Press eBooks, Aug 1, 2018

In Italy anarchist bombings along with the attentats of Lega and Caserio provided the pretext for... more In Italy anarchist bombings along with the attentats of Lega and Caserio provided the pretext for an intensification of repression. Chapter 4 details the measures adopted under Francesco Crispi’s draconian rule directed against the country’s progressive forces—republicans, socialists, and anarchists. The chapter describes the legislation approved in 1894 that allowed the government to escalate the clampdown of political subversion and public unrest. These “exceptional laws” further curtailed freedom of the press and made it possible to subject thousands of subversives and malfattori to ammonizione, trial by military courts and domicilio coatto in penal colonies. Finally, these repressive measures forced anarchist leaders who were not in detention to flee into exile.

University of Illinois Press eBooks, Aug 1, 2018

Chapter 1 highlights the continuity between the Risorgimento and Italian anarchist activities dur... more Chapter 1 highlights the continuity between the Risorgimento and Italian anarchist activities during the movement’s formative years. Specifically, it describes how anarchist violence based on insurrections, guerrilla warfare and tyrannicide was an amalgam of two revolutionary ideologies and traditions inherited from the Risorgimento: the revolutionary democracy of Carlo Pisacane (specifically his articulation of “propaganda of the deed,”) Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi along with lesser known republicans, and the anarchist socialism introduced into Italy by Mikhail Bakunin.

Science & Society, 2003

... com Those Without a Country: The Political Culture of Italian American Syndicalists, by ... I... more ... com Those Without a Country: The Political Culture of Italian American Syndicalists, by ... In the United States, in-stead, the unrelenting opposition of the American Federation of Labor to unskilled laborers, immigrants, and internationalist ideologies created a Page 2. ...

The Journal of American History, Sep 1, 2001

The Journal of American History, Sep 1, 1991

... Dorothy Healey remembers a life in the American communist party. Post a Comment. CONTRIBUTORS... more ... Dorothy Healey remembers a life in the American communist party. Post a Comment. CONTRIBUTORS: Author: Healey, Dorothy. Author: Isserman, Maurice. ... VOLUME/EDITION: PAGES (INTRO/BODY): viii,. SUBJECT(S): Communists; Biography; United States; Healey, Dorothy. ...

The Journal of American History, Mar 1, 1998

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Earl Browder, the preeminent 20th-century C... more Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Earl Browder, the preeminent 20th-century Communist party leader in the United States, steered the CPUSA through the critical years of the Great Depression and World War II. A Kansas native and veteran of numerous radical movements, he was peculiarly fitted by circumstance and temperament to head the cause during its heyday.Serving as a bridge between American Communism s secret and public worlds, Browder did more than anyone to attempt to explain the Soviet Union s shifting policies to the American people in a way that would serve the interests of the CPUSA. A proud and loyal follower of Joseph Stalin, Browder nevertheless sought to move the party into the U.S. political mainstream. He used his knowledge of domestic politics to persuade the Communist International to modify Popular Front (1935-1939) tactics for the United States.Despite his rise in the hierarchy, he possessed an independent streak that ultimately proved his undoing. Imprisonment as he neared age 50 left permanent psychological damage. After being released with the approval of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Browder lost his perspective and began entertaining delusions of grandeur about his status in American politics and in the world Communist movement. Still, he could never quite bring legitimacy to the CPUSA because he lacked the vision and moral courage to separate himself totally from the Soviet Union. Ryan concludes that Browder was not so much insincere as deluded. His failure contributed to the demise of the popularity of the Communist party in the United States.In preparation for this book, the author consulted the Browder Papers at Syracuse University and U.S. Government documents, particularly the F.B.I. files. In addition, he traveled to Russia for research in the Soviet Archives when recently opened to Western scholars, including the records of the former Communist International and a collection of American Communist party files, 1919-1944, shipped secretly to Moscow long ago. Indeed, until 1992, the existence of the CPUSA collection was only rumored.

University of Illinois Press eBooks, Aug 1, 2018