Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2024, Theology

This dissertation develops an insight of Italian historian, Gabriele De Rosa, that Don Luigi Sturzo, Italian priest-politician and leader of Christian Democracy during the interwar period, developed a form of religious intransigence that deviated from the generally accepted norms of ultramontane Catholics and provided the principles for the practical activities of a mass party representing Italian Christian Democracy (1919-1924). I press on De Rosa's insight to show that Sturzo's “historicizing” of intransigence gave him a method of Catholic antifascism (1924-1946) that in exile found a friendly reception in Britain and the United States. Sturzo named his method popolarismo, or popularism. Through it he aimed to maintain the hard stance of the Catholic faithful on anticlericalism while at the same time conditioning religious intransigence into a friendlier debate with modernity through Catholic social teaching. I investigate De Rosa's briefly stated interpretation during the time of Sturzo's party-building but develop it further by looking at Sturzo's relationships in an exile milieu. Between 1924 and 1946, Sturzo employed his method, a combination of astute historical analysis with a firm belief that Catholic Social teaching had opened a door for the Church's entrance into modernity, inside a transnational antifascist discourse conducted in correspondence, conferences, and the international press. He and his closest associates used his popularist vision to craft arguments that generally favored Wilsonian internationalism while rejecting all forms of authoritarianism, even those that were Catholic. He reminded readers that while culture and politics were not the same thing, the Church's moral teaching ought to have at least an inspired authority in politics because it possessed this in culture. He persisted in this argument despite the Vatican's lean toward authoritarian governments that assured a more abundant ecclesial influence over statecraft than what was as (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: William Portier (Advisor); Vince J. Miller (Committee Member); Jana M. Bennett (Other); Sandra A. Yocum (Committee Member); Massimo Faggioli (Committee Member); Anthony B. Smith (Committee Member) Subjects: History; Theology

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2024, History

Within my thesis, I will analyze the ways in which Francisco Franco utilized history within his propaganda to consolidate power under his regime. Franco's propaganda and the policies that his regime implemented were closely interwoven, with the legitimacy of Franco's policies largely dependent on the effectiveness of the regime's propaganda. I will also be assessing the ways in which the propaganda changed over the course of the regime, as Franco adapted it to policy changes within the regime. The Franco regime remained in power for roughly thirty-six years, during the course of which the regime was subject to developing socio-economic circumstances which forced Franco to modify his propaganda and his corresponding policies.

Committee: Steven Tuck (Advisor); Wietse de Boer (Committee Member); Erik Jensen (Committee Member) Subjects: History; World History

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1950, History

Committee: B. F. Nordman (Advisor) Subjects: History

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2022, Media and Communication

This dissertation seeks to understand how sports fans organize, mobilize, and interact through social media to discuss protests against sports league policies that fans believe to be unjust. In our case, Major League Soccer (MLS) instituted a new league policy in 2019 that in general, banned political speech within MLS stadiums. After reports of hateful chants and instigations of violence in MLS stadiums from far-right hate groups, MLS fans began rallying around the anti- fascist symbol of the Iron Front in hopes to deter the hate groups from entering the stadiums. Major League Soccer perceived the Iron Front imagery to fall under their prohibition of political speech and began to ban fans that displayed the symbol of the Iron Front at MLS matches. Utilizing the theoretical lenses of Critical Race Theory (CRT), Political Process Theory (PPT), Image Restoration, and Dialogic Communication, this study examines how fan-driven social movement form, how they achieve their goals, and how sports leagues respond with particular reference to MLS. Through the implementation of Critical Discourse Analysis, posts and comments relating to the Iron Front protests from MLS subreddit, r/MLS, as well as related Twitter posts were examined to monitor fan reactions. Additionally, Tweets from multiple official MLS accounts were investigated to gauge any public acknowledgement of the protests. Overall, the Iron Front protests, which I have called the New Iron Front due to their co-opting of the anti-fascist symbol, formed an anti- racist and anti-fascist social movement which incorporated several key aspects of CRT. Other findings indicated that the New Iron Front both created and took advantage of political opportunities that became available as they engaged in protests against league policy. From a public relations perspective, Major League Soccer severely underestimated the strength and longevity of the New Iron Front movement. As a result, MLS was forced into multiple strategi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ellen Gorsevski Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Kefa Otiso Ph.D. (Other); Lara Lengel Ph.D. (Committee Member); Terry Rentner Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Multimedia Communications; Sports Management

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2022, Theology

This dissertation is about the problem of history in modern theology. It describes early Christian conceptions of history and truth and sketches a genealogy of the impact of modern historical consciousness on Christianity. By focusing on Third Republic France, and then the work of the bible scholar Alfred Loisy, this dissertation seeks to situate the Modernist Crisis, where the conflict between history and theology erupted most violently. In so doing, the way in which conceptions of doctrine are embedded within histories, contexts, and politics is revealed. To flesh out this same point, in its later chapters, this dissertation shifts its attention to Catholic engagement with the right-wing and fascist movements of the twentieth- century. To this end, the career of Jacques Maritain (d. 1973) proves particularly important. His move from reactionary politics in his youth toward the articulation of a “New Christendom” reveals the extent to which theology and politics co-constitute each other. More than that, this dissertation looks at Maritain's role in the religious freedom debates of the Second Vatican Council. The final thesis of the dissertation is that the thinking Maritain utilizes in articulating his New Christendom - what he calls “prise de conscience” or “awareness” - offers a contribution to the ongoing conversations about continuity and discontinuity that mark Catholic reflection on the problems of history and doctrine.

Committee: William Portier (Advisor); Jana Bennett (Committee Member); Thomas Guarino (Committee Member); Vincent Miller (Committee Member); Dennis Doyle (Committee Member) Subjects: History; Philosophy; Political Science; Religion; Religious History; Theology

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2022, History (Arts and Sciences)

This thesis examines the reasons behind the Fascist regime's failure to produce propaganda which could establish a durable consensus among the Italian populace. By examining propaganda in newspapers, textbooks, and institutional organizations, this work explains the Fascist regime's failure to successfully convey its ideology and how it was instead forced to rely upon Mussolini's cult of personality. This thesis examines propaganda produced from 1922 to 1943, when Mussolini was removed temporarily from power.

Committee: Mirna Zakic (Committee Chair); Molly Morrison (Committee Member); Alec Holcombe (Committee Member) Subjects: European History; History; Modern History

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2018, History

This thesis examines developments in American nativist thought in the interwar era, with a particular focus on the Great Depression years. Starting in World War I, nativist concerns grew increasingly focused on ideology, guided by the principles of 100-percent Americanism. Fear of foreign “isms,” most notably communism, served as the new fulcrum for nativist currents in the United States. This thesis explores three distinct Depression-era right-wing extremist phenomena: The Black Legion, Charles Coughlin, and the German-American Bund. All three were disparate, dissimilar in composition, tactics, and appearance. The Black Legion was an outgrowth of the 1920s Ku Klux Klan and remained virulently racist and anti-Catholic. Coughlin was a Catholic priest who had found himself targeted by the same Klan the Black Legion grew out of. Tasked with starting a parish in a pre-dominantly Protestant community (in which the KKK still exerted a great deal of influence), Coughlin took to the airwaves. Soon, his “radio sermons” took on a more political flavor. Coughlin excoriated business leaders and bankers for their greed, laying the blame for the Great Depression at their feet. Finally, the German- American Bund developed from German-American solidarity movements initiated in the aftermath of World War I. Initially a response to oppressive treatment at the hands of American citizens during the war, some of these organizations, including the Bund, soon took up the cause for national socialism. Yet despite their differences, all three movements were underpinned by a powerful current of anti-communism. It is this common thread that gave shape to interwar era nativism.

Committee: Rebecca Mancuso Dr. (Advisor); Michael Brooks Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: American History

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2018, Philosophy

In his polemic novel 'Demons' Fyodor Dostoevsky noted the destructive power of political actors 'possessed' by the righteousness of ideas over concern for actually existing people. The ideologies of the 20th century, Liberalism, Fascism and Socialism contain within them absolute statements of ontology, teleology and broad human purpose that allow them to incorporate any and all aspects of human social existence into their state projects. The absolute and universal nature of the claims made by these ideologies causes a state of incommensurability in dialougue with other systems that can lead to violent action as political disagreement is translated into ontological incompatibility leading to demonization and dehumanization. This project aims to propose a system based on a modified form of Burkean conservatism that allows for a recognizes the importance of universal beliefs in the context of humility. A humility rooted in the knowledge of the historical contingency of political situations and the inevitability of philosophical change leading to an epistemological skepticism as to the absolute validity of ideological claims. Instead of locating the need for community on shared convictions, political action is rooted in a shared sense of suffering and responsibility interpreted through the Russian Orthodox concept of Sobornost- where each person is responsible for the suffering of others and has an obligation to relieve the suffering of the world in shared humility.

Committee: Julie White PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Philosophy

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2016, English/Literature

The Gothic has become a mode of transforming reality according to the writers' and the audiences' imagination through the reproduction of hellish landscapes and nightmarish characters and occurrences. It has also been used though to address concerns and criticize authoritarian and power relations between citizens and the State. Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking Glass are stories written during the second part of the 19th century and use distinct Gothic elements to comment on the political situation in England as well as the power of language from a child's perspective. Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth on the other hand uses Gothic horror and escapism to demonstrate the monstrosities of fascism and underline the importance of revolt and resistance against State oppression. This thesis will be primarily concerned with Alice and Ofelia as Gothic protagonists that become agents of revolt against their respective states of oppression through the lens of Giorgio Agamben and Hannah Arendt. I will examine how language and escapism are used as tools by the literary creators to depict resistance against the Law and societal pressure; I also aim to demonstrate how the young protagonists themselves refuse to comply with the authoritarian methods used against them by the adult representatives of Power.

Committee: Piya Pal-Lapinski (Committee Chair); Kimberly Coates (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Cinematography; Comparative Literature; Film Studies; Gender Studies; Literature; Philosophy; Political Science

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2016, English (Arts and Sciences)

The dissertation is divided into two sections: an essay titled "On the Five Topics of On the Merits of Fascism: A Manifesto Novel" and a book manuscript titled, On the Merits of Fascism: A Manifesto Novel. "On the Five Topics of On the Merits of Fascism: A Manifesto Novel" covers the five main topics of the novel in the order in which they appear: dementia, hoarding, the manifesto genre, fascism, and euthanasia. The essay defines each and provides rationale as to why they are essential to the novel. On the Merits of Fascism: A Manifesto Novel focuses on protagonist Joseph Kolakis, who provides eldercare for his nonagenarian grandmother, Bertha "Berth" Kolakis. Due to her late-stage dementia and the family's hoarding, Joseph experiences powerlessness that only abates when he writes a manifesto that advocates fascism. The manifesto both empowers and requires him to make choices that conflict with humanitarian ethics.

Committee: Joan Connor (Committee Chair); Patrick O'Keeffe (Committee Member); Carey Snyder (Committee Member); Mirna Zakic (Other) Subjects: Literature

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2015, Art History

This thesis discusses the change in visual language and usage of the Fascist Palazzo della Civilta Italiana from its creation under Mussolini to its current state as the headquarters of the fashion house Fendi. Utilizing both political and semiotic theories to understand the meaning of the structure, this thesis assesses the ideological alteration of the building from glorifying imperialist Fascist Rome to showcasing the power of Italian design on the global market.

Committee: Kevin Haworth (Advisor) Subjects: Architecture; Art History; Political Science

MA, Kent State University, 2014, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

"Strange Times:" The Language of Illness and Malaise in Interwar France The interwar era was especially difficult in France given the stresses of the global depression, the rise of extreme politics, and most importantly the widespread perception of demographic crisis. Despite the clear division between radical right and left-wing political organizations, the two poles of the spectrum ultimately shared a level of discourse. Utilizing the literary criticism of Mikhail Bakhtin, which suggested that heteroglossic, or divisive rhetoric stood in contrast to unitary language, or overarching discourse, this project argues that the political left and right were united in their similar discursive employment of illness. The perception of demographic crisis lead many interwar era French to see their nation as somehow sick either metaphorically or literally. The discourse of illness and malaise is evident across the political spectrum, especially in the fields of politics, gender, and race.

Committee: Rebecca Pulju Dr. (Advisor); Stephen Harp Dr. (Committee Member); Richard Steigmann-Gall Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Demographics; European History; Gender; History; Modern History

Master of Arts in History, Youngstown State University, 2013, Department of Humanities

Scholars of Italian-American history have traditionally asserted that the ethnic community's media during the 1920s and 1930s was pro-Fascist leaning. This thesis challenges that narrative by proving that moderate, and often ambivalent, opinions existed at one time, and the shift to a philo-Fascist position was an active process. Using a survey of six Italian-language sources from diverse cities during the inauguration of Benito Mussolini's regime, research shows that interpretations varied significantly. One of the newspapers, Il Cittadino Italo-Americano (Youngstown, Ohio) is then used as a case study to better understand why events in Italy were interpreted in certain ways. The thesis concludes with methods used by the Italian Fascist government to alter the journalistic atmosphere in the United States, thus leading to an environment only conducive to a philo-Fascist stance.

Committee: David Simonelli Ph.D. (Advisor); Brian Bonhomme Ph.D. (Committee Member); Martha Pallante Ph.D. (Committee Member); Carla Simonini Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Ethnic Studies; European History; History; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Modern History

Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2006, International and Comparative Politics

This thesis examines the definition of civil society, social movements and success and then analyzes these variables through a historical case study. It looks at the role of two women's groups in Italy from 1943-48 as they worked to achieve three political goals (women's suffrage, greater representation in politics, and the new constitution). The thesis will look at whether the variables necessary to social movement success were present in the movement in helping Italian women in the movement who mobilized and organized to achieve their said goals and objectives. It will conclude with remarks as to the lessons learned from the study of civil society and social movements and why these are important to the establishment of political and democratic goals and objectives. The conclusion will also discuss how social movements, civil society and women are inevitably linked and the impact of active Italian women in this movement on Italian history.

Committee: Laura Luehrmann (Advisor) Subjects:

Bachelor of Arts, Miami University, 2008, College of Arts and Sciences - History

This thesis explores the turbulent relationship between the Vatican Catholic Church and the Fascist government in inter-war Italy. First, I outline the historical events that deepened the divide between the two powers and analyze their consequences for the political climate inherited by Benito Mussolini and Pope Pius XI in 1922. An analysis of the "Roman Question"and its resolution, the Lateran Accords, will be set against larger themes of collective identity, fragmented citizenry, diplomacy, and ideology. This study examines how the Lateran Accords exacerbated the conflicting situation and prompted both the Papacy and the government to initiate massive socialization projects in an effort to draw citizens into their respective spheres of influence. Focusing on initiatives in the Italian education system and youth group organizations, this thesis demonstrates how both Catholics and Fascists specifically targeted youth. My thesis is most significant in its comparative analysis of Catholic and Fascist youth socialization.

Committee: Wietse de Boer Dr. (Advisor); Sante Matteo Dr. (Other); Amanda McVety Dr. (Other) Subjects: European History; History; Personality; Religion; Rhetoric

MA, Kent State University, 2012, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

This study explores the policies, ideals, and resistance tactics used by northeast Ohio's most active non-sectarian anti-Nazi organization from 1933 to 1946, The League for Human Rights Against Nazism. Led by famed Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver and local activist Grace Mayette, the League conducted public boycotts, informational speeches, and rallies, as well as secretive investigation campaigns against domestic fascist organizations like the German American Bund and Silver Shirt Legion. As the nation entered World War Two, the League altered their activities by engaging more heavily with the local community through their weekly newspaper column, “The Rumor Roundup” and releasing "This is Cleveland," a magazine/study into Cleveland's legacy as the nation's leading liberal and multiracial city. Moreover, this thesis challenges two historiographical trends. First, it shows how clandestine vigilance tactics were often used against perceived enemies and was a response to the perception that the federal government was not aggressively pursuing domestic fascist groups. Second, it shows that Jewish and sympathetic Gentile anti-Nazi resistance in the United States was much stronger, targeted, and organized than previous historians have claimed. In all, this thesis reviews the various roles the League played in Cleveland and northeast Ohio as the region's leading anti-Nazi voice, vigilant spy network, public information organization, civil rights advocate, and leader in uniting the local Jewish population while simultaneously adding to and challenging old historiographical trends.

Committee: Kenneth Bindas PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Richard Steigmann-Gall PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Clarence Wunderlin PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: History

MA, Kent State University, 2012, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

This study explores the tension between the better-known Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) and an often overlooked familial rival, the Deutschvolkische Freiheitspartei (DVFP) during the early years of the Weimar Republic. Following a decades-long radicalization of the German right wing, and exacerbated by Germany's defeat in the First World War the NSDAP and DVFP emerged as representatives of a volkisch worldview that rejected the new system of parliament and was underscored by a fascist nature. This thesis challenges the too-simple conception of the rise to power of the NSDAP as having been inevitable, and of the party as seemingly unchallenged during its formative years. The existence of a plurality of Nazisms, reflected by the existence of the Nazistic DVFP that espoused a worldview nominally similar to that of the NSDAP, shows us that the rise to power of the NSDAP was a much more contingent affair than previously thought. The worldviews of both the NSDAP and DVFP are comparatively examined in this study to illuminate the existence of a variety of strands of Nazism, an ideology that was not a unique conception but rather a widespread worldview which was advocated by a variety of parties on the German extreme right wing during the Weimar years. The cooperative turned rivalrous relationship between the two parties between 1922-1928 is examined in this thesis in functional and cultural terms to highlight the structural and contingent factors which led to the success of the NSDAP and the failure of the DVFP. This study proposes that historians of the NSDAP, and particularly those studying its formative years use a different methodological approach in their attempts to understand the party's rise to power. Borrowing from the field of comparative fascist studies, this work uses the DVFP and its relationship with the NSDAP to explore the functional and cultural factors which led to the NSDAP's rise to power at the expense of a variety of other, Naz (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Richard Steigmann-Gall PhD (Advisor); Shelley Baranowski PhD (Committee Member); Matthew Crawford PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: European History; History; Modern History

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2011, German

This study examines Steve Reich's reflections on his early works in the context of Walter Benjamin's thesis in “The Work of Art in the Age of its Technical Reproducibility.” While Reich's thoughts as expressed in interviews and selected writings show a similar attitude to Benjamin's toward changes in human perception, Benjamin's notion of auratic demise in the age of technical reproducibility is challenged by Reich's understanding of the role of technology in music and the effects of gradual musical processes. Reich's assertions regarding the aesthetic autonomy of his compositional process are reminiscent of Romantic ideals of art, particularly those embodied by the “poeticized” as defined by Benjamin in “Two Poems by Friedrich Holderlin.” However, the means by which Reich claims to have reintroduced artistic autonomy are those that Benjamin attributes to aura's deterioration, such as impersonality and gradual presentation of the artistic subject. This study determines that, while Reich uses mechanical process to accommodate the change in human perception as Benjamin anticipates, aura is not eliminated as proposed in “The Work of Art in the Age of its Technical Reproducibility.” Although the “here and now” of the original is destroyed, aura survives through the authority and transcendent nature of musical process, and singularity is achieved by the unique reception of individual audience members with each hearing. Reich's work may not politicize aesthetics as Benjamin predicts, but through the authority of autonomous musical process and the decentralization of interpretation, the fascist aestheticization of politics may still be averted in the age of technical reproducibility.

Committee: Edgar Landgraf Dr. (Advisor); Geoffrey Howes Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Germanic Literature

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2006, American Culture Studies/Sociology

The Sociological Hitch focuses on my experiences in and related to higher education. I examine other major social institutions, such as work, law enforcement, and family. My major objective in the study is to offer a socially poignant testimony through the utilization of the auto-ethnographic method. The work of the classical Sociologist C. Wright Mills inspires the undertaking, namely Mills's notion of the Sociological Imagination. Feminist theory, and its experiential epistemology, in conjunction with New Left ideas about power, influences the scope of the study. Beyond the use of Mills, feminism, and Leftist social thought, I utilize auto-ethnographic materials and essays pertaining to auto-ethnography as a distinct methodology. The major method I employ is auto-ethnography, which involves the disclosure of personal experiences in the aforementionedinstitutions with a focus on higher education. Self-disclosure of direct experience, coupled with extended narration and reflection achieve a detailed account of a specific subjectivity. Through my subjectivity emerges an intrinsic social critique. In addition to the major method of auto-ethnography, The Sociological Hitch likewise employs open-ended interviews with thirteen interviewees. Through these interviews, I explore and investigate experiences interviewees had with social institutions, namely the aforementioned higher education, work, law enforcement, and family. The interviews reinforce my subjectivity and provide context for the social milieu under consideration. Analysis of the interviews in light of the auto-ethnography generate the findings that: 1) Biography confirms socio-structural reality, 2) Police, family, school, and work reproduce Society, and 3) Social problems translate into material problems. The major underlying conclusion The Sociological Hitch resonates the work of C. Wright Mills by declaring that assumed personal problems ought to prompt consequential social action.

Committee: John Warren (Advisor) Subjects: