Sebastian De Pretto is a postdoctoral research fellow at the institute “Kulturen der Alpen” in Alt-dorf, Switzerland. His current project deals with the history of reservoir construction in the Swiss, Italian and Austrian Alps during the late 19th and the 20th century. From a transnational perspec-tive, the project examines, on the one hand, the fate of mountain communities in different al-pine regions that were forced to resettle due to the flooding of the valleys. On the other hand, ecological aspects are also considered, as the project seeks to uncover the impact that reservoirs had on their local environment. Before his postdoc, Sebastian De Pretto completed his PhD at the University of Lucerne. In his thesis, he researched the memorialization of the Abyssinian War at different Lieux de mémoire in the Italian border region of South Tyrol. Furthermore, Sebastian De Pretto holds a Master’s degree in Global History from the University of Heidelberg and a Bachelor’s degree in history and Philosophy from the University of Basel.
RCC Research Project: A transnational history of reservoir construction in the Alps from 1870 to 1974
Selected Publications:
- Im Kampf um Geschichte(n). Erinnerungsorte des Abessinienkriegs in Südtirol, Göttingen 2020.
- "Nationalistisches Feuer aus Wien. Über die Gefahren eines kurz-sichtigen Geschichtsver-ständnisses in Südtirol." Geschichte der Gegenwart, 24.01.2018.
- "Der Abessinienkrieg aus der Sicht dreier Südtiroler Soldaten gegenüber der Bildpropa-ganda des Istituto Nazionale Luce." Geschichte und Region / Storia e regione 2016(1), Bd.25), Andrea di Michele (Hg.), S. 41-68.
- Online-map: Mapping Italian Colonialism, article about Bolzano, ongoing: https://postcolonialitaly.com/bolzano-imperiale/