Outline

Overview

This unit will examine the origins and development of the movements of the New Right that emerged in Europe after World War One, paying particular attention to their political, social and cultural manifestations as well as the movements on the left that attempted to confront what was seen as a new political phenomenon. The unit will use primary material of literature, diaries, cinema and photography as well as the more conventional sources of political and historical analysis.

Unit details and rules

Unit code	HSTY2626
Academic unit	History
Credit points	6
Prohibitions ?	HSTY2026
Prerequisites ?	12 credit points at 1000 level in History or Ancient History or Asian Studies or Jewish Civilisation, Thought and Culture
Corequisites ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Marco Duranti, marco.duranti@sydney.edu.au
Lecturer(s)	Marco Duranti, marco.duranti@sydney.edu.au
Tutor(s)	Marco Duranti, marco.duranti@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Assignment	Take-home exercise See Canvas	30%	Formal exam period Due date: 06 Jun 2022 at 23:59	1500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Discussion posts and tutorial participation See Canvas.	10%	Ongoing	Weekly comments
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Essay draft See Canvas.	20%	Week 07 Due date: 08 Apr 2022 at 23:59	1000 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Research essay See Canvas.	40%	Week 12 Due date: 20 May 2022 at 23:59	2000 words
Outcomes assessed:

Assessment summary

See Canvas.

Assessment criteria

See Canvas.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

This unit has an exception to the standard University policy or supplementary information has been provided by the unit coordinator. This information is displayed below:

5 points per calendar day

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

You may only use artificial intelligence and writing assistance tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator, and if you do use them, you must also acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section.

Studiosity is permitted for postgraduate units unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Introduction to the history of fascism and antifascism	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Ideological origins of fascism	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	What is fascism?	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 03	Causes of the rise of fascism	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 03	What were the long-term causes of fascism?	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 04	Democracies in crisis	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 04	Mussolini's worldview and rise to power	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 05	Totalitarianism	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 05	Hitler's worldview and rise to power	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 06	The cultural and social history of fascism	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 06	Social roots of Italian Fascism	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 07	Resistance	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 07	Social roots of Nazism	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 08	Collaboration	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 08	Gender in Fascist Italy	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 09	FILM: Leni Riefenstahl's 'Triumph of the Will' and 'Olympia'	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 09	Gender in Nazi Germany	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 10	FILM: Roberto Rossellini's 'Rome: Open City'	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 10	Fascist aesthetics	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 11	FILM: Bernardo Bertolucci's 'The Conformist'	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 11	Anti-fascist cinema	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 12	Neo-fascism	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 12	Psychological dimensions of fascism	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 13	Fascisms in comparison	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 13	Debating fascism in the era of Donald Trump	Tutorial (1 hr)

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

HSTY2626: Fascism & Antifascism

Semester 1, 2022

Tutorial readings

Week 1: No tutorial

Week 2: Definitions of fascism

Robert Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism (Allen Lane, 2005), “Chapter 8: What is Fascism?”, 206-220.

Stanley Payne, "Fascism and Racism" in Terence Ball & Richard Bellamy, eds., Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Political Thought (Cambridge UP, 2003), 123-150

Umberto Eco, "Ur-Fascism", New York Review of Books, 22 June 1995

Week 3: The origins of fascism

Kevin Passmore, ‘The Ideological Origins of Fascism before 1914’ in The Oxford Handbook of Fascism (Oxford UP, 2010)

Glenda Sluga, ‘The Aftermath of War’ in The Oxford Handbook of Fascism (Oxford UP, 2010)

Week 4: Mussolini’s worldview and rise to power

Robert Bosworth, Mussolini, Chapters 6 to 9

PRIMARY SOURCE: Benito Mussolini, "The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism," Political Quarterly, 4 no 3 (1933), 341-356

Week 5: Hitler’s worldview and rise to power

Ian Kershaw, Hitler, ‘Chapter 1: Power of the Idea’

PRIMARY SOURCE: Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (originally published 1925-26), Volume 1: Chapters 11 (‘Nation and Race’), and 12 (‘The First Period of Development of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party’).

Week 6: Social dimensions of Italian Fascism

Patrizia Dogliani, ‘Propaganda and Youth’, in The Oxford Handbook of Fascism

Frank M. Snowden, “On the Social Origins of Agrarian Fascism in Italy,” European Journal of Sociology 13, no. 2 (1972): 268-295.

PRIMARY SOURCE Giovinezza lyrics

PRIMARY SOURCE 1921 Program of the National Fascist Party (PNF)

Week 7: Social dimensions of Nazism

Andrew Donson, ‘Why did German youth become fascists?’ Social history 31:3 (2006): 337-358.

Ronald Rogowski, “The Gauleiter and the Social Origins of Fascism,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 19, no. 4 (1977): 399-430.

PRIMARY SOURCE: 1920 Platform of the Nazi Party (NSDAP)

PRIMARY SOURCE: “The Educational Principles of the New Germany,” NS Frauen Warte 22 (1936/37), 692-693.

Week 8: Gendered dimensions of Italian Fascism

Victoria De Grazia, How fascism ruled women: Italy, 1922-1945, Chapter 4: ‘The Family Versus the State’

Maria Fraddosio, “The Fallen Hero: The Myth of Mussolini and Fascist Women in the Italian Social Republic” (1943-5), Journal of Contemporary History 31 (1996): 99-124

PRIMARY SOURCE: Gaetano Salvemini, “Do Italian Women Obey Mussolini?”, Birth Control Review 17:8 (March 1933), 64-66.

Week 9: Gendered dimensions of Nazism

Claudia Koonz, Mothers in the Fatherland, Chapter 3: ‘Nazi Women and their “Freedom Moment”’, 51-90.

Jill Stephenson, Women in Nazi Germany (Routledge: 2014), Chapter 2: ‘Reproduction, family, sexuality’

PRIMARY SOURCE: Erna Günther, ‘We Women in the Struggle’, NS Frauen Warte 2:17, 25 February 1934

Week 10: Fascist aesthetics

FILM SCREENING IN LECTURE: Excerpts from Triumph of the Will (1935) and Olympia (1938) Part 1 (Teil 1. Fest der Völker). Leni Riefenstahl (director)

Susan Sontag, "Fascinating Fascism,” New York Review of Books, February 6, 1975: 31-43.

Alan Sennett, “Film Propaganda: Triumph of the Will as a Case Study,” Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media 55:1 (Spring 2014): 45-65.

Michael Mackenzie, “From Athens to Berlin: The 1936 Olympics and Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia,” Critical Inquiry, vol. 29, No. 2 (Winter 2003), 302-336.

Week 11: Anti-fascist aesthetics

FILM SCREENING IN LECTURE: “Rome: Open City” (Roberto Rossellini, director, 1945) [Italian: Roma città aperta]

Chapters from Sidney Gottlieb, ed., Roberto Rossellini’s Rome Open City (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004)

Peter Bondanella, “The Making of Roma città aperta: The Legacy of Fascism and the Birth of Neorealism” (Chapter 2)

Marcia Landy, “Diverting Clichés: Femininity, Masculinity, Melodrama, and Neorealism in Open City” (Chapter 4)

Michael P. Rogin, “Mourning, Melancholia, and the Popular Front: Robert Rossellini’s Beautiful Revolution” (Chapter 6)

Week 12: Psychological dimensions of fascism

FILM SCREENING IN LECTURE: The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci, director, 1970).

A. James Gregor, Interpretations of Fascism, Chapter 3: Fascism as the Consequence of Psychological Disabilities.

Michael Walker, “Style and Narrative in Bertolucci’s The Conformist,” Cineaction (1996), 33-42.

Art Caspary, “The Conformist: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Fascism,” Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis, vol. 10, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 115-31.

Week 13: Debating fascism in the era of Donald Trump

Collection of newspaper articles and opinion pieces (available online).

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. By studying in depth, in their historical contexts, the important fascist movements in twentieth century Europe you will expand your knowledge of contemporary European history and current political movements, within Europe and without.
LO2. You will acquire a critical understanding of the ways in which historians, scholars in other disciplines, creative artists, and commentators in the media have approached the study of fascism, right wing authoritarianism and antifascism.
LO3. Pursuing an independent research project culminating in an original essay, you will develop analytical and writing skills.
LO4. In conducting research and building bibliographies you will extend your skills in information and digital literacy.
LO5. Through group activities and discussions, you will arrive at informed opinions on controversial historical and contemporary issues, developing your collaborative and communication skills.
LO6. Through group activities and online discussion you will learn to sensitively communicate and explain comparative social, cultural and institutional differences across historical periods and places, integrating diverse perspectives on the past and understand how exploring how axes of inequality (such as class, gender and racial inequalities) have been historically constructed.
LO7. Appreciating how Europe's fascist past informs our own troubled present, you will consider what fascism and antifascism means in the 21st century.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

Tutorial readings, topics, and activities have been revised in response to student feedback.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Study commitment

Required readings

HSTY2626: Fascism & Antifascism

Semester 1, 2022

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

HSTY2626: Fascism and Antifascism

Semester 1, 2022 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Study commitment

Required readings

HSTY2626: Fascism & Antifascism

Semester 1, 2022

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect