An interdisciplinary symposium, Modernism-Fascism-Postmodernism, will take place Wednesday, Sept. 20 through Friday, Sept. 22, at the University of New Mexico in the Student Union Building Santa Ana and Fiesta Rooms. The symposium was jointly organized by Susanne Baackmann, associate professor of German, College of Arts and Sciences; and David Craven, professor, Art and Art History, College of Fine Arts.
The symposium, which is free and open to the public, starts at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday with registration and a book exhibit. Roger Griffin, Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom, is delivering the plenary, “Modernism and Fascism: The search for the ‘Bigger Picture,’” from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
The international symposium will explore the complex and often contradictory intersections of fascism, modernism and postmodernism,” said Susanne Baackmann, co-symposium organizer and UNM associate professor of German.
Fascism was frequently motivated by a rejection of modernity and modernization, along with other “internationalizing” features of the early 20th century, she said.
“Nonetheless, some strains of nationalistic modernism, such as Futurism in Italy and Vorticism in England, held ideological sympathies with fascists governments,” she said.
The legacy of fascism in the “post-fascist” West, as linked to figures like the philosopher Martin Heidegger, presents some intriguing contradictions, especially given this thinker’s subsequent impact on post-modernist thought.
For more information, contact Gabi Niegelhell, gabini@unm.edu or 277-7367.
For more information visit: http://www.unm.edu/news/06SeptNewsReleases/06-09-13Announcement.pdf.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu
Posted by scarr at September 9, 2006 03:59 PM