Transnational History: A New Paradigm for Anti-Fascist Studies?

Abstract

Anti-fascism – a hallmark of the left since the 1930s, and a vague term for active opposition to Italian fascism, German Nazism and similar movements in the interwar period – used to be studied as a brief episode in the history of European nation states. The available syntheses read like collections of national studies with a clear European or Western focus. However, methodological nationalism may soon become a thing of the past – the last few years have brought a transnational turn in anti-fascist studies, which this special issue tries both to illustrate and to discuss.

Redes transnacionales de propaganda a favor de la Republica: Guillermo Fernández Zuñiga y la producción cinematográfica Spain in exile

“…La participación de fotógrafos, periodistas (Preston, 2008) y cineastas ha sido también ampliamente trabajada, aunque desde una perspectiva nacional, sin vincular generalmente su trabajo a conceptos como el de la solidaridad transnacional que plantean Braskén (2015) o García (2016). La vinculación entre la ayuda humanitaria y grupos cercanos al Popular Front que hicieron uso de la propaganda ha sido estudiada Sonia García López (2013) con respecto a la movilización en Estados Unidos, Inmaculada Sánchez Alarcón ( 2009) referido a Francia y Bert Hogenkamp (1976Hogenkamp ( , 1986 o Laura López-Martín (2019) en el caso de Reino Unido.…”

La circulación de imágenes y su papel en el movimiento antifascista transnacional: el caso de las fotografías de la Guerra Civil Española en el periódico chileno La Mujer Nueva (1936-1939).

“…1 Para Hugo García esta se divide en cuatro paradigmas: mítico, revisionista, postrevisionista y transnacional 2 (GARCÍA, 2015, p. 237-238). Así, estudiar el antifascismo como un movimiento transnacional nos permite analizar los canales de comunicación, redes y circulación de individuos e ideas que le dieron forma en diversos países; a la vez, de poner a prueba el valor de esta perspectiva que durante la última década no ha estado ajena a controversias (GARCÍA, 2016).…”

Animating Internationalism: David Alfaro Siqueiros and Antifascist Art in the 1930s

“…As scholars note, antifascism thrived among exiles; indeed, migrations helped create this international network. 15 While many antifascists are well-known European artists, it is equally important to attend to figures from the Americas, such as David Alfaro Siqueiros, who embodied the internationalist spirit of the period, travelling, exhibiting, speaking and collaborating in cities around the world, including Montevideo, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Los Angeles, New York, Paris and Valencia. Siqueiros, while expelled from Mexico's Communist Party in 1931, operated within communist-led cultural organizations throughout the period, and hoped that his efforts would lead to his reinstatement (as they did).…”