Fascism in Motion: Concepts, Agents and the Global Experiences

It is widely known that beyond the cases of Italy and Nazi Germany, a variety of patterns of fascism and authoritarianism took shape as responses to the unprecedented economic slump and social unrest during the interwar period. However, until recently, the mainstream studies of fascism movement are still laying the focus on cases of the European countries. As a matter of fact, ideas, beliefs and ideologies of fascism circulated through the transnational agents, and forged a network of knowledge that distributed fascist ideas far beyond the Axis powers. In the local contexts, these ideas were selectively appropriated and creatively recontextualized by the local intellectuals and policy makers in order to solve their own social crisis.

By shedding light on regions that remain underrepresented in hitherto fascist studies, this workshop aims to trace the border-transcending circulation of ideas and concepts derived from fascism and grasp its transnational character. With the case studies zooming in on regions such as China, Japan, India, Cambodia, Thailand, Brazil, Romania and so forth, this workshop showcases the large-scale border-crossing movements of agents between countries and regions over different parts of the globe, analyzes the political and cultural negotiations between nations, and explores the multi-layered and reciprocal intellectual inspirations of agents from various backgrounds.

Programme

Thu. 7th Oct. (Day 1)

Time: EDT 8:00 / CEST 14:00 / JST 21:00

OPENING REMARKS

Franz Waldenberger (German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo)

KEYNOTE TALK

Transnational Fascism: A Retrospective

Reto Hofmann (University of Western Australia)

PANEL 1

Time: EDT 9:00 – 11:00 / CEST 15:00 – 17:00 / JST 22:00 – 24:00

Chair: Takuma Melber (Heidelberg University)

Chiao-In Chen (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Chinese Fascism and its Development: The Case of the Guomindang Fascist Organizations, the Lixingshe Society (1927-1937)

Daisuke Tano (Konan University, Japan)

The Gestapo Myth: Josef Meisinger and the German-Japanese Police Cooperation in East Asia

Yufei Zhou (German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo)

Fūdo, Volksgeist and the “Japanese Economy” of the Totalitarianism: The Wartime Economic Thought of Naniwada Haruo

Fri. 8th Oct. (Day 2)

PANEL 2　

Time: EDT 7:00 – 9:00 / CEST 13:00 – 15:00 / JST 20:00 – 22:00

Chair: Hisashi Shigematsu (University of Tokyo)

Aishik Saha (Jadavpur University, India)

‘Any Port in a Storm’: Rethinking the Interpretations of Fascism(s) from Colonial India

Rafal Pankowski (Collegium Civitas, Poland)

Cambodia: An overlooked case of 20^th century fascism?

David Malitz (German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo)

Thai-style fascism(s): Past(s) and Present

PANEL 3

Time: EDT 9:30 – 11:30 / CEST 15:30 – 17:30 / JST 22:30 – 24:30

Chair: Hisashi Shigematsu (University of Tokyo)

Luke Thompson (Norwich University, USA)

Weeds Among the Wheat: Fascism and the Radicalization of the Youth

Gabriela de Lima Grecco (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)

Leandro Pereira Gonçalves (Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Brazil)

Ibero-American Fascisms: Networks and Influences of the Brazilian Integralism and Falangism in the Atlantic World

Lidia Santarelli (Rutgers University)

Mediterranean Fascisms: The Transmission of Authoritarian Political and Economic Ideas at the Intersection of Europe with The Global South

Sat. 9th Oct. (Day 3)

PANEL 4

Time: EDT 7:00 – 9:00 / CEST 13:00 – 15:00 / JST 20:00 – 22:00

Chair: Mahon Murphy (Kyoto University)

Roland Clark (University of Liverpool)

Understanding International Fascism: Fascist Regimes and Movements in Romanian Far-Right Newspapers

Berk Emek (Koç University, Turkey)

The Road to Royal Dictatorship in Interwar Romania: Rising Fascism and the Case of the Iron Guard

George Souvlis (University of Ioannina, Greece)

Genuine Fascist Theory or Non-Systematic Conceptualizations of the New Authoritarian Order? Towards an anatomy of Nikolaos Koumaros’ antiparliamentarian thought

Takuya Momma (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science / Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan)

The Lure of Fascism: winding paths to radicalization of Croatian nationalists during interwar period

PANEL 5

Scheduled Time: EDT 9:30 – 11:30 / CEST 15:30 – 17:30 / JST 22:30 – 24:30

Chair: Mahon Murphy (Kyoto University)

Daniel Hedinger (Ludwig Maximilian University Munich)

The Shared History of the Axis and the Question of Global Fascism

Chikara Uchida (Toyo University / University of Tokyo)

Unlearning Fascism: Why did Japanese Scholars of Japanese History Stop Using the Concept of Fascism?

Jaya Singh (Independent Researcher)

Necropolitics and the influence of Axis Powers: The Case of India

CLOSING REMARKS