ROM-STD 103: Who is a Fascist? Culture and Politics on the Radical Right

 

ASSIGNMENTS

Readings will be assigned on a week-by-week basis and distributed as pdfs via the course website. They range from the fields of history, political theory, sociology, literature, to the history to art.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

a) Careful class preparation: a seminar is not a lecture course. It requires not just an expert teacher, but also students who come to class well prepared, which is to say, who have read and ruminated about each week’s materials and are ready for informed participation in classroom discussions. Class preparation includes not just the assigned readings but also your fellow students' position papers (which will have been posted two days before each class session).

b) Writing: rather than requiring an end-of-the-term paper, the seminar requires participating students (including auditors) to contribute a weekly one page, single-spaced position paper that addresses an issue or thread that runs through one or more of the week’s readings. The position papers are not meant to summarize the week’s readings or topic as a whole; rather they should engage specific subtopics, threads, arguments, questions or issues of personal interest to you and your research. Weekly position papers must be posted to the course discussion forum no later than midnight on the Sunday preceding class. This will permit everyone to read one another’s papers in advance of each Tuesday morning session. The Discussion fora are just that: places of discussion, which is to say, dialogue and debate. So you are welcome to respond to one another, just as I respond to your contributions. 

c) End-of-semester research project: the political landscape is ever shifting, with new movements arising, others dying off, and mutations forever taking place in ideology and political strategy. The focus of the capstone research project for the semester will consist in an individual research project that analyzes a contemporary alt-right, neo-fascist, neo-Nazi, or neo-Volkish group, figure, or cultural current active either on the contemporary American or global stage. Some potential topics include:

European Brotherhood

What is Q?

Accelerationism

American militia groups

Aryan Brotherhood

Nippon Kaigi

National Socialist Network

Génération Identitaire

Traditionalist Youth Network

Black metal music

Viking metal music

Nordic Resistance Movement

Proud Boys

The Base

Casa Pound

The Active (Fight) Club Network

Minuteman Project

Alternative für Deutschland

Stormfront

Serbian Action

Bolsonarismo

Nordic Resistance Movement

British National Front

International Third Position

The above is little more than a sampling; there are many other potential topics of interest and I would encourage you to seek out topics that are directly relevant to your own specialization and/or research interests. For an up-to-date listing of groups, one useful source of information is the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Hate Map by Ideology” (found at https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map/). (Note, however, that "hate group" and neo-fascist are not always precise synonyms.)

One mid-semester week will be devoted to working up and sharing potential final projects, which should be posted to the course forum for purposes of online discussion no later than October 13.

Two outputs are envisaged for the finalized project:

--a one-page fact sheet to be distributed to members of the class at the time of the slide presentation and talk.

--a 10 minute Powerpoint slide presentation and talk. Talks should be carefully rehearsed so as to last for no more than ten minutes. They should present the phenomenon under scrutiny in a synthetic fashion; a 10 minute class discussion will follow each student presentation.

Presentations will be scheduled for our final regular class meeting on Dec. 8  (during Reading Period).

HARVARD RESOURCES

Harvard University Archives and Special Collections contain a rich array of materials related to the history of fascism, Nazism, neofascism, and antifascism. They include everything from the typescripts of Mussolini’s autobiography to unexplored documentation of ties and conflicts between the university and the Mussolini and Hitler regimes. If you are interested in pursuing such research, please let me know so that I can help out.

GRADING

Grades will be calculated on the following basis:

• Careful preparation of all course readings and active engagement in course discussions (40% of grade)
• The writing of weekly one page, single-spaced micro-essay, posted the prior Sunday to the course blog (40% of grade)
• Your final research project and presentation (20% of grade)

The following is how grades will be understood with respect to the course:

• an A implies exceptional distinction, accomplishment, and effort
• an A- implies full mastery of the subject and evidence of genuine dedication and even excellence
• B-range work implies a good comprehension of the course material, a solid command of the skills needed to work with the course material, and fulfillment of all the course requirements 
•  C-range work implies satisfactory comprehension of the course material and the skills needed to work with the course materials, as well as an adequate effort to complete the course

COLLABORATION

Dialogue and conversation both inside and outside of the classroom are integral to the seminar. So you are encouraged to converse and debate, even if I expect your weekly position papers to adopt a personal stance that reflects your interests, beliefs, and emerging sense of intellectual identity.

CONTROVERSY

This is a seminar dedicated to promoting thoughtful, historically and critically informed, open debate and conversation on topics that may sometimes prove upsetting and controversial. Its success depends upon participants’ willingness to engage seriously and substantially with ideas, even ideas that they find abhorrent, with the understanding that together we are seeking to gain a deeper understanding both of the historical present and past.

OFFICE HOURS (FALL 2026)

My office is located in 423 Boylston Hall (4th floor). Ordinarily, my office hours are held on Tuesdays 13:00-14:30. There may be some variations during the semester, so please send me an email (jaytiesse@gmail.com) in advance to set up an appointment. I am also available outside of ordinary office hours by appointment.

POLICY ON GENAI USE

While I have no objection to participants use of Generative AI tools like Claude or Gemini as research supports, the purpose of the course to deepen your critical engagement with the materials at hand, as well as the threads of discussion and debate that emerge in the course of the seminar. Accordingly, the use of GenAI tools should be limited to research tasks; if used for purposes of writing you are cheating yourself.