Bernard S. Cohn’s scientific contributions

... The collection of information on many cultural aspects of colonial societies was part of a larger project of colonial knowledge production in the metropole, but it also served the purpose of enabling colonial empires to better control colonised societies locally. In this regard Italy followed what Cohn has brilliantly defined as the colonial project of commanding languages in order to identify languages of command (Cohn 1996). Subsequently, in the wake of the Italian invasion of Libya, the university underwent a restructuring, which saw the introduction of courses in colonial languages, colonial geography, the history of colonisation, and colonial legislation (Nicolini 1942, 29). ...

Reference:

Challenging race, gender, and class in Fascist and postwar Italy. Biographical notes on Elena Sengal (1911–1962)