Fascisms and Antifascisms Since 1945
Radical History Review
Issue number 138 (October 2020)
Abstract Deadline: February 1, 2019
Co-Edited by Mark Bray, Jessica Namakkal, Eric Roubinek, and Giulia Ricco
Radical History Review seeks proposals for contributions to a forthcoming issue that will bring together historically oriented scholarship on fascisms and antifascisms since the end of the Second World War. Though scholars have widely understood interwar fascism as a complex web of nationalism, heteropatriarchy, and race and class-based ideology, since 1945 many far-right movements have emerged that draw upon elements of this political tendency without necessarily identifying as fascist, thus destabilizing the term fascism itself. What, for example, is the difference between uses of “fascism,” “populism,” and “authoritarianism” in political discourse and movements? How has the rise of antifascist groups affected movements on the far right? This issue of the Radical History Review will work to historicize fascist movements and movements against fascism since the end of the Second World War in order to question the continuities of fascism that have exploded into public view in the twenty-first century, including the widespread “misuse” of the term.
As transnational far-right movements have emerged since 1945, including parties and groups such as the National Front in Britain, the RSS in India, the Golden Dawn in Greece, and the Movement Brazil Free (MBL), they have been met by transnational anti-fascist movements. Despite these postwar developments, the historiographies of fascism and antifascism remain stalled between understanding what happened before 1945 and what has come to pass since. This issue of the Radical History Review thus seeks to present work that addresses the changing meaning of the “fascism” category while examining an understudied period in the history of fascism and antifascism. We also encourage submissions on time periods that pre-date 1945 but remain important for the post-1945 period, for example, from medievalists who engage with how post-1945 fascism appropriates medieval history to promote the ideology of organic ethno-states.
Submissions may focus on all parts of the world—we especially seek work with a transnational and comparative scope that addresses geographies outside of Western Europe and the United States. Papers that analyze the relational nature of the struggle between fascist and antifascist movements are encouraged.
Possible topics include (but are not limited to):
- History of neo-fascist and far-right movements and parties, which might include National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale) / Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia), Golden Dawn, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)
- Histories of neo-Nazism, in Germany and globally
- Use of anti-fascist tropes by left groups and movements of the 1970s (Red Brigades, Red Army Faction, the Weather Underground, Black Panthers)
- Antifascist movements in the Third World / Global South
- Shifts in far-right mobilizations of anti-Semitism, nationalism, and white supremacy
- Uses of antifascism in post-1945 movements for decolonization
- Transnational fascist or antifascist alliances
- The memorialization / monumentalization of fascism or antifascism
- The ways in which the far right draws on history to affirm their movements (for example, the use of Viking history by white identity groups to argue for a white ethno-state)
- The influence of punk, skinhead, football, or other subcultures in fascist and antifascist movements
- Parallels between fascism and neoliberalism (for example in the ways they address concepts such as equality, democracy, and freedom)
- The role of the concept of antifascism in resistance to Latin American dictatorships
- The creation of an “official” governmental antifascism in postwar Europe
The RHR publishes material in a variety of forms. Potential contributors are encouraged to look at recent issues for examples of both conventional and non-conventional forms of scholarship. We encourage contributions with strong visual content. In addition to monographic articles based on archival research, we encourage submissions to our various departments, including:
- Historians at Work (reflective essays by practitioners in academic and non-academic settings that engage with questions of professional practice)
- Teaching Radical History (syllabi and commentary on teaching)
- Public History (essays on historical commemoration and the politics of the past)
- Interviews (proposals for interviews with scholars, activists, and others)
- (Re)Views (review essays on history in all media—print, film, and digital)
Procedures for submission of articles:
By February 1, 2019, please submit a 1-2 page abstract summarizing the article you wish to submit as an attachment to contactrhr@gmail.com with “Issue 138 Abstract Submission” in the subject line. Please send any images as low-resolution digital files embedded in a Word document along with the text. If chosen for publication, you will need to send high-resolution image files and secure permission to reprint all images.
By March 15, authors will be notified whether they should submit a full version of their article for peer review. The due date for completed articles will be July 1, 2019. Those articles selected for publication after the peer review process will be included in issue 138 of the Radical History Review, scheduled to appear in October 2020.
Abstract Deadline: February 1, 2019
Contact: contactrhr@gmail.com
https://www.radicalhistoryreview.org/call-for-papers/fascisms-and-antif…