Our dual concern at the Cultural Identity and Memory Studies Institute (CIMS) is to explore cultural identity and cultural memory: that is, the investigation of the diverse textual constructs and creations (e.g. traditions, myths, literary canons, and political institutions) by which national and other cultural groups represent, criticise, renew and repurpose their sense of identity and memory.
Coming up:
05 November 2026 | 16.00–17.30 | Younger Hall, Seminar Room 1
The (An)Aesthetics of Fascism
Dr Zoë Roth, Associate Professor of French, Durham University
This talk reconsiders the relationship between fascism and aesthetics. While fascism has often been described as an “aesthetic” form of politics, this account can obscure the ways fascist regimes restricted sensory experience through propaganda, censorship, and collective ritual. Drawing on thinkers including Hannah Arendt, Theodor Adorno, and Günther Anders, the paper develops the concept of “fascist anaesthesia” to explore how fascism constrains and deadens sensory worlds.
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