Project description
Sound propaganda used by totalitarian regimes
Long neglected, the role of recorded sound as a political tool in interwar Europe calls for new investigations to better understand the sonic functioning of political regimes. Totalitarian regimes, especially, raise a specific question: what role could sound play in a totalitarian context? Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the REDIRE project will address this question in regard to Italian fascism. A discography of fascist propaganda recordings will be compiled and fed into an open-access database. A better understanding of the fascist political imaginary of recorded sound will be made possible by a study of its uses. Finally, a comparison of the Italian, French, and German contexts will lay the foundations for a European political history of sound technologies.
Objective
"If much has been said about the use of radio by the Italian fascists to establish and lead a regime that they wanted totalitarian from its advent, other devices of technicized sound, especially discs and their political affordances and effects, have been neglected. However, discs and phonographs were among the first technical sound devices and media to be available for political propaganda. Since the end of the 19th century, they have enabled political actors in the USA and Europe to transcend the time and space of their practice and to multiply their presence. In the interwar period, discs and recorded sound became fundamental parts of propaganda devices designed to elicit ideas, behavior, and adherence to a political project from massive audiences through sound. It appears then necessary to question the political functioning, the practices, and the social effects of propaganda discs, alone or associated with the radio or the loudspeaker, especially in a regime that its actors wished totalitarian. With ""REcorded Sound PropaganDa of the Italian Fascist REgime"" (REDIRE), I wish to inform the political role and effects of discs in the context of Italian fascism and to participate to the reflection on the political functioning of (technicized) sound, especially in a totalitarian regime. To do so, I will study the propaganda conceived by the regime to support the policies of development or perpetuation of fascism in time (education, identity, conservation and manipulation of cultural heritage) and space (colonization, war, transnational soft power, international existence of Italy). Through an investigation of the State archives and the press, I will examine the political uses of recorded sound engaged by fascist socio-technical networks, from their imaginary conception to their realization and their social effects. Finally, fascist and nazi recorded sound propaganda will be compared to better understand the political functioning of sound in a totalitarian regime."
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
53113 BONN
Germany
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