Jennifer Hirsh

Andrew W. Mellon Regional Fellow in the Humanities

20092010 Forum on Connections

Jennifer Hirsh

Asst Professor of Art History, Maryland Institute College of Art

Transmissions of Fascism: Broadcasting, Bonifica, and the Built Environment

This project will address strategies employed for representing Italian fascist building projects and territorial expansion at home, in Italy and the colonies, and abroad, in the U.S., between the years 1922 and 1945. Thus, my study aims to analyze not only the diverse architectural vocabulary employed in governmental and civic buildings commissions by the fascist regime as part of the general bonifica (fascist land reclamation) program but also, and in particular, images of building projects that appeared in Italian publications connected to other media such as periodicals and posters related to radio and cinema. In considering transmissions of fascism, my project will broaden its scope to include buildings – as well as images of those buildings – sponsored by the Italian government in the U.S.