ASST 390
The 1930s in Comparative Perspective: Germany, Italy, and Japan
Last Offered Spring 2010
Division II Exploring Diversity Initiative
Cross-listed JAPN 390 / HIST 390
This course is not offered in the current catalog

How did Germany, Italy, and Japan deal with the economic, political, and social crises of the 1930s? In what ways did each of these three countries navigate the economic depression, challenges to democracy, and ascendance of totalitarianism that marked this pivotal and transformative decade? This course will take a transnational approach to such questions, examining various aspects of the politics, economy, society, and culture of the 1930s in Germany, Italy, and Japan. It will explore the origins and rise of Italian fascism, German National Socialism, and Japanese militarism; the political cultures of charisma, violence, terror, collaboration, and resistance; racism and anti-Semitism; and fascist aesthetics. We will also consider how these phenomena shaped, and were shaped by, the nature of everyday life in this decade with particular attention to issues of religion, family, and gender. To conclude the semester, we will discuss how the 1930s have been remembered, and whether we can speak of fascisms at work in the present day. This course will fulfill the requirements of the Exploring Diversity Initiative by comparing how global frustrations and challenges played out both similarly and differently in Germany, Italy, and Japan; and how these countries that would become the axis powers negotiated their particular encounters with fascism.