Accounting and biopolitics for a new society: Italian colonialism in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya and Somalia (1922–1941)

Intervention in Africa by the Italian Fascists was not justified only by economic motives but sought to re-engineer the Indigenous population and settlers in the creation of a new society shaped by Fascist ideology. Accounting tools in the form of budgets, censuses and reports from the colonies of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya and Somalia between 1922 and 1941 were essential means to gather information which would inform policies that would control the way in which both the Indigenous population and Italian settlers conducted themselves. Ultimately this was meant to change their motives and actions to create the conditions that would lead to significant political and economic gains for the colonising power. Informed by the work of Arendt and Foucault on biopolitics and totalitarianism, this study investigates the way in which Fascist accounting in the colonies, rather than being solely a means to promote the efficient expropriation of local resources, was to be used to build a new generation of strong, ruthless Italians and develop a highly racialised society. In unseen ways the biopolitical properties of accounting can allow interventions in the lives of individuals which can modify an individual’s lifestyle and priorities and even promote discrimination and racism that enable control.