Jean-Do Sifantus

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I. The Far Right Emergent

Week 1: Legacies of the Far Right

The course's reading list includes links tied to the Harvard Canvas network, which requires registering for the course to get access. Following are the equivalent links when they are available directly on the internet.

Week 2: The F-Word: Fascism across Boundaries [100%]

Paxton-quote-1.png

Figure 1: Quote from Robert Paxton on Fascism Principles

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Figure 2: Quote from Robert Paxton on the Kuh Klux Kan

  • [X] Walter Laqueur, Fascism: Past, Present, and Future (1996), “The Essence of Fascism” and “Fascist Doctrine,” pp. 13-27 NOTES: Highlights of The Essence of Fascisim
  • [X] Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them (2018), Ch. 1, “The Mythic Past Download The Mythic Past ,” Ch. 5, “Hierarchy,” and Ch. 6, “Victimhood,” Download Ch. 5, “Hierarchy,” and Ch. 6, “Victimhood,” pp. 3-23, 78-108 NOTES: Highlights COMMENTS:
    • See also "La Nation en recit," Sebastien Ledoux, on the shift in education of history of emphasis from the homage and debt to national war heroes to the recognition and debt to the victims of such conflicts. Fascism can be seen as a total repudiation of the latter point of view.

II. Nationalism Resurgent

Week 3: Germany: Terrorism and Totalitarianism [33%]   ATTACH

  • [X]

    Katrin Bennhold et al., “Day X” New York Times podcast, Part II: In the Stomach (36 minutes) and Part III: Blind Spot 2.0 (39 minutes) COMMENTS:

    • The impact of the military on the growth and effectiveness of the

    extreme right and fascist movement in Germany. This cast might be the a good example of the strategy of fascist groups to mobilize the military while causing social disturbance to destabilize democratic infrastructure to force election in order to take power.

  • [ ] Hannah Arendt, On Violence (1969) [87 pp] COMMENTS:
    • From "The Lion's Den," in the chapter on Hannah Arendt, there is a critique of Arendt's position against Zionism on the basis of her argument that antisemitism is related to nationalism as the cause of the failure of democracy.
  • [ ] Laqueur, Fascism, “Terror” pp. 50-56

Week 4 (Wednesday, September 22). France: Politics and Poverty [33%]

  • [X] Mathieu Kassovitz, La Haine (1995) [film] (97 minutes)
  • [ ] Alain Mabanckou, “Letter to France” in Tricia Danielle Keaton, T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, and Tyler Stovall, eds., Black France / France Noire: The History and Politics of BlacknessLinks to an external site. (2012), pp. 88-95
  • [ ] Ted Swedenburg, “Beur/Maghribi Musical Interventions in France: Rai and Rap,” The Journal of North African Studies, 20:1 (2015), 109-126

Week 5 (Wednesday, September 29). Italy: Monuments and Moderns [16%]

  • [ ] Bolzano Victory Monument (1928) [Permanent Exhibition and Documentation Center. videos]
  • [ ] Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana [Palace of Italian Civilization] (1938) [images and descriptions from Wikipedia and Rome's official tourist site ]
  • [ ] Il Mausoleo delle Fosse Ardeatine [Mausoleum of the Ardeatine Caves] (1949) [images, descriptions, Audio Guide]
  • [ ] Ruth Ben-Ghiat, “Modernity is Just Over There: Colonialism and Italian National Identity,” interventions 8, no. 3 (2006), 380-393
  • [ ] Mia Fuller, Moderns Abroad: Architecture, Cities, and Italian Imperialism (2007), “Introduction,” Ch. 1, “History: 1869-1943,” and Ch. 5, “Colonial Modern," pp. 1-38, 107-136
  • [X] Ben-Ghiat, “Why Are So Many Fascist Monuments Still Standing in Italy?” The New Yorker, October 5, 2017

Week 6 (Wednesday, October 6). Spain: Martyrs and Monsters [33%]

  • [X] Guillermo del Toro, Pan’s Labyrinth. (2006) [film]
  • [ ] Alex W. Palmer, “The Battle Over the Memory of the Spanish Civil War,” Smithsonian Magazine, July/August 2018
  • [ ] Sebastiaan Faber, Exhuming Franco: Spain's Second Transition (2021), Introduction and Ch. 1, “How Dead Is He?” pp 1-42

III. Fascism Ascendant

Week 7 (Wednesday, October 13). Spain: Violence and Victors [0%]

  • [ ] Pablo Picasso, Guernica (1937)
  • [ ] Javier Cercas, Soldiers of Salamis (2001/2003) (246 pp)
  • [ ] Julian Casanova, Ch. 3, “The Faces of Terror: Violence during the Franco Dictatorship,” in Jerez-Farran and Amago, eds., Unearthing Franco’s Legacy (2010), pp. 90-120

Week 8 (Wednesday, October 20). Italy: Fascism and Families [0%]

  • [ ] Benito Mussolini, “The Social and Political Doctrine of Fascism” (1932)
  • [ ] Natalia Ginzburg, Family Lexicon (1963) [224 pp]
  • [ ] Victoria de Grazia, How Fascism Ruled Women: Italy, 1922-1945 (1993), Ch. 4, “The Family Versus the State,” pp. 77-115

Week 9 (Wednesday, October 27). France: Occupation and Collaboration, Part I [0%]

  • [ ] Irène Némirovsky, Suite Française (2004), Part II, “DolceLinks to an external site.,” pp. 205-372
  • [ ] Laqueur, Fascism, “France,” pp. 105-110

Week 10 (Wednesday, November 3). France: Occupation and Collaboration, Part II [%]

  • [ ] Némirovsky, Suite Française, Part II, “Dolce,” pp. 205-372

Week 11 (Wednesday, November 10). Germany: Degeneracy and Despair [%]

  • [ ] Entartete Kunst [Degenerate Art] (1937), selections
  • [ ] Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen, Diary of a Man in DespairLinks to an external site. (1947) (214 pp)
  • [ ] Laqueur, Fascism, “Fascist CultureLinks to an external site.,” and “GermanyLinks to an external site.,” pp. 60-65, 110-115

IV. Extremism Resistant

Week 12 (Wednesday, November 17). Reading the Far Right [50%]

  • [X] Bernhard Schlink, The Reader (Links to an external site.) (1995) [218 pp]
  • [ ] Konrad H. Jarausch and Michael Geyer, Shattered Past: Reconstructing German Histories (2002), Ch. 11, “Survival in Catastrophe: Mending Broken MemoriesLinks to an external site.,” pp. 317-341

Paper Subject Ideas

Military vs. Fascist Coup D'Etat

  • Is the military necessary for a fascist takeover?
  • Has any fascist state taken power with a military coup?

Totalitarianism from Louis XIV to De Gaule

  • Simone Weil's argument, supported by Albert Camus
  • Did De Gaule, Francois Mitterand, Napoleon III, used or initialed fascist tactics for taking power?

Fascism in History Education

  • The Shoa and collaboration during WWII in french education during the 1950 and 1960s.
  • Slavery in US education in the 20th century.

The Normalization of Fascism

  • As suggested in Jason Stanley's book and in the first week's reading.
  • The power of myth in this process vs. it's role in resistance movements.

Political Correctness and Censorship

  • Is it appropriate to say that the political correctness is going too far in preventing research such as those described by Stephen Pinker in Jason Stanley's book.