Activity: Hosting a visitor › Hosting an academic visitor › Academic
Description
Italy was the first European country to use radio as a propaganda instrument towards Arab countries in the colonial era. The Italian Radio Bari was created in 1934 with the object of increasing Fascist Italy’s influence in both the Mediterranean and the Middle East. By focusing on the Arabic propaganda of Radio Bari, the seminar highlights the relationship between Fascist Italy and the Arab World, when Rome had tried to present itself as the “Protector of Islam”. The seminar discussed topics like the contribution of Arab broadcasters to the Italian propaganda, the way in which the Italian government made use of Arab nationalists in serving their ideological goal in Arab regions and the size of transmission and transnational impact of the propaganda on Arab listeners.