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Unit information: The F Word: Understanding Italian Fascism Then and Now in 2023/24

Unit name The F Word: Understanding Italian Fascism Then and Now
Unit code HIST20140
Credit points 20
Level of study I/5
Teaching block(s) Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director Dr. King
Open unit status Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)

N/A

Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)

N/A

Units you may not take alongside this one

N/A

School/department Department of History (Historical Studies)
Faculty Faculty of Arts

Unit Information

Why is this unit important?

Our Special Fields give you the opportunity to work at an advanced level alongside a single academic and a specialist area of research. Intensively taught through seminars only, they are designed to provide you with hands-on experience of how knowledge is produced in the discipline of History.

How does this unit fit into your programme of study?

Our Special Fields involve the application of the full spectrum of core historical competencies within a narrower field of study. In this sense, they are designed to prepare you to undertake independent research for yourself by showing you how practicing historians work with sources, historiographies, methodologies, and concepts within a particular specialism.

Your learning on this unit

The day after Giorgia Meloni’s victory in the 2022 Italian general election, The New York Times diagnosed the ‘deliberate amnesia’ of the postwar process, positioning Meloni’s victory as the outcome of Italy’s failure to work through its Fascist past. But what exactly is Fascism and how is it remembered (or forgotten) in Italy today? This unit will track the historic development of Fascism after World War 1, and address topics including hyper-masculinity, anti-intellectualism, architecture and art, race and empire, violence, and reverence of the dead. We will also turn our attention to the present, understanding how contemporary neofascists have drawn on the political, propagandistic, and violent approaches of their predecessors. Finally, we will consider how the Italian state and Italians themselves have approached the legacy of Fascism in a constitutionally antifascist Republic.

How will you be different as a result of this unit?

Special Field units will enhance your capacity to build arguments with primary sources, properly located within appropriate theories, concepts, methods, and historiographies.

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

  1. identify and analyse key themes in the modern history of Italian Fascism;
  2. use historical methods specific to the study of far-right propaganda and memory;
  3. discuss and evaluate the historiographical debates that surround the topic;
  4. interpret primary sources and select pertinent evidence to illustrate specific and general historical points;
  5. present their research and judgements in written forms and styles appropriate to the discipline and to level I.

How you will learn

How you will learn:

Classes will involve a combination of class discussion, investigative activities, and practical activities. Students will be expected to engage with readings and participate on a weekly basis. This will be further supported with drop-in sessions.

How you will be assessed

Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):

Essay 3,500-word (50%) [ILOs 1-5].

Timed Assessment (50%) [ILOs 1-5].

When assessment does not go to plan

When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the format or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are confirmed by the School/Centre shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the year.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. HIST20140).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.

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