Brothers in Wounds: Italy's Disabled Veterans in Transnational Perspective (1917-1939)

Project Information

BroWoun

Grant agreement ID: 703873

DOI

10.3030/703873

Project closed

EC signature date 21 April 2016

Start date 1 October 2016

End date 30 September 2018

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 183 454,80

EU contribution

€ 183 454,80

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BroWoun (Brothers in Wounds: Italy's Disabled Veterans in Transnational Perspective (1917-1939))

Reporting period: 2016-10-01 to 2018-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The project Brothers in Wounds has investigated the return to civilian life of servicemen who had been physically injured on the battlefields of the First World War. It has focused on Italy with a view, however, to unearth contacts, relationships and exchanges across borders.
Its examination of the “inter-war” period (1917-1939) has allowed to place the experiences of Italian disabled veterans into the wider European political context and has enabled to understand the extent to which the rise and consolidation of Fascism affected responses to disability in both Italian society and on the international stage.
This project has mobilized a wide range of primary sources (institutional documents, inter/national and local press, memoirs, etc.) and has integrated different historiographical approaches (social, cultural and transnational history) to bring to light the specific experiences of Italian disabled ex-servicemen. It has combined a range of scales of analysis, above and below the nation-state, thus examining local case studies, the national framework and transnational connections. This project has thus contributed to the comparative as well as to the transnational history of war disability in Italy and Europe.
This project has generally aimed to reflect upon the implications of the transition from war to peace and the reintegration of disabled veterans in post-WW1 Italy. More specifically, it has investigated the complex physical, psychological, and social challenges faced by disabled veterans in the inter-war era. This prompted some wider considerations on the same topics in contemporary debates in academic, medical and policy-making circles.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The work for this project has been divided in three main activities:

• Archival research
Archival visits have been conducted throughout the two years of this fellowship, thus allowing to collect primary sources in libraries and archives located in different countries. Additional documents have been obtained through online repositories.

• Writing and professional training
Periods at Warwick have been devoted to the analysis of the sources collected, to the writing of scholarly pieces and to the attendance of seminars and events organized by the University. I could also benefit from a wide range of very helpful training courses (language courses and workshops run by the Learning and Development Centre).

• Dissemination and outreach activities
Results of this project have been presented to numerous conferences, workshops and seminars across Europe, Australia and Argentina. The participation to these events gave me also the opportunity to establish or develop contacts with experts in the field. In this regard, I was a visiting scholar at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. The scientific outputs of this Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship are three articles for peer-reviewed journals and one manuscript that is in preparation. I have also been involved in the organization of the annual conference of a professional association, of which I am a member. This research has informed some meetings with stakeholders outside the academia with regard to the provision of services for war disabled and disabled civilians alike. Some outreach activities will occur after the project’s conclusion.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

This project has built on the renewal in First World War Studies and has combined in an innovative and original fashion new perspectives in disability history and the methods of transnational history. It has brought to light lesser known events and experiences concerning disabled veterans in the interwar period by employing unused archival sources and by investigating overlooked episodes and personalities. It has thus addressed aspects of the Italian war experience that had not yet received the attention they deserve. This project has challenged dominant narratives of the First World War by exposing a more diverse range of occurrences, encounters and experiences. It has positioned disabled veterans, who has been confined to the margins of collective memory, centre stage and focused on the history of their return and reintegration into society.
This project will make an impact on Italian and European historiography on the First World War and its consequences, as it will contribute to disability history. It will also offer the opportunity for more general considerations on the transition from war to peace and the reintegration into society of ex-servicemen and ex-servicewomen. It can be potentially useful, indeed, to link the historical past to the present and examine the ways in which historical research might inform and enhance the debate on the long-term consequences of war.

Roma, Pincio, monumento a Enrico Toti (Arturo Dazzi 1922). CC BY-SA 2.0. Author: Russell Yarwood