Sex, citizenship and the state: The construction of the public and private spheres in colonial eritrea

Abstract

In 1905, during a solemn address on the state of the judiciary in Eritrea,1 the Procuratore del Re (Public Prosecutor), Ranieri Falcone, discussed interracial concubinage at some length. Falcone pointed out that mixed unions between Italian men and Eritrean women were widely practised.2 He would rather have done without them because he considered them detrimental to Italian prestige. But, Falcone argued emphatically, the state had no right to intervene and forbid such relations: ‘Indeed, how could the law possibly forbid these de facto unions, as long as the partners want them? Can the legislator create a completely new conflict between the law and the partners’ conscience?’3.