ABSTRACT

This chapter addresses the interplay between politics and racial theories on the eve of the revolutions and the First War of Independence in 1848. Specifically, it covers how the debate over prospective Italian nationhood among influential figures of Risorgimento conservative Liberalism, namely Vincenzo Gioberti (1801–1852), Cesare Balbo (1789–1853), and Giacomo Durando (1807–1894), was enriched by in-depth ethnographic digressions over the racial origins of the Italians. Interestingly, these authors related their preference for a confederacy of monarchical states to the profound cultural differences within the Peninsula resulting from, among other causes, the presence since pre-Roman times of a diverse ethnic pattern. The ways in which these authors illustrated Italian ethnogenesis and, most of all, resolved tense contradictions in their racial narratives reveal their stances toward traditional sources of authority like the Bible and the Classics, along with new emerging epistemological paradigms. Furthermore, this debate proves relevant because the ‘fact’ of race seems to acquire, for the first time, paramount importance as the ‘biological’ and ‘corporeal’ foundation of nationhood.