Lancaster University

Faculty Member, History

Professor of Modern/Contemporary History

About

I came to Lancaster University in 2003 as a member of staff of the Department of European Languages and Cultures. In August 2010 I moved to the History Department.

My main research interests are:

a. mass VIOLENCE, with particular focus on comparative genocide: starting with my research on the Holocaust, my interests have expanded to a number of other case studies globally

b. 'SPACES OF VIOLENCE' and 'LICENCE': an extension of my earlier research under (a), I am particularly interested in the ways in which standard legal and moral norms are deliberately suspended and/or serially transgressed. Camps, special prisons, detention centres etc can all be classified 'spaces of violence' - spaces, that is, where violence is the norm and sometimes the sole purpose of the space. Such spaces exist as spaces of 'exception', usually invisible (tucked away, hidden behind walls or totally secret) to the rest of society. I have also theorised the concept of 'licence' as the crucial catalyst and facilitator of 'eliminationist' (mass) violence

c. generic FASCISM: my original area of research, starting from the comparative analysis of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany but moving also to theoretical and conceptual issues that span the entire experience of interwar European fascism.

d. FASCISM and the 'MAINSTREAM': I am interested in exploring the ways in which the political experience of 'fascism'-as-regime in the 1920s and particularly in the 1930s redefined the boundaries between 'extreme' (fascist) and 'mainstream' (conservative/authoritarian). Essentially, I am arguing that the distinction between 'fascist' and 'authoritarian' regimes in 1930s Europe is unsustainable; and that the latter category of regimes need to be theorised from within the field of 'fascism studies', as opposed to being treated as anomalous or 'failed' cases of 'fascism'.

e. totalitarianism and PROPAGANDA: I have worked on Nazi propaganda, particularly in the period of WW2. I am interested in the production of the propaganda message: how it is formulated, negotiated through administrative networks, communicated to its intended audience, and then assessed.

f. URBAN THEORY: I am currently working on a research monograph focusing on Fascist Rome. I am interested in the ways in which the Fascist regime in Italy conceived of the 'third Rome' as the universal capital of 'fascism' and how it inscribed this narrative on the city through planning, architecture but also the multiple processes of 'clearing' space. I have also started researching the strategies of communicating order in the conflictual environment of post-1948 Jerusalem's Old City.

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