GEOG 595: Geographies of Fascism (and Antifascism)
Fall 2026
Wednesday, 2:30-5:20, SMI 409
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Instructor: Dr. Erin McElroy |
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Class Description
This graduate seminar will focus upon how fascist ideologies and imaginaries manifest in particular geographies, bringing a critical spatial focus to historic and contemporary conjunctures. We will explore the relationships between fascism, racial capitalism, technology, and empire, looking both at historic fascism in Europe but also fascistic formations in the US and globally. The class will involve deep reading practices and robust discussion as we dive into exploring how fascism emerges in specific times and places, what constitutes it, and also how it is resisted. To this end some weeks will focus more on defining what fascism is, and how its own mean shifts and blurs in imperial, capitalist, and racist contexts. Other weeks will focus more on antifascist struggles, historically and contemporarily. While we will keep geography and spatial imaginaries in mind throughout, we will read from an array of fields including critical geography, American studies, critical race and ethnic studies, political science, and more.
Course Requirements and Structure
Classroom Expectations
Your preparation for discussion and participation is extremely important. Here are some ground rules:
Respect for others is vital. As the instructor, I am concerned about the educational experience of each student in the class, respectful of individual differences, encouraging of creativity, reasonably open and accessible to discuss material and assignments, thorough in evaluating assignments, and rigorous yet supportive in maintaining high standards for performance. As a student, you are expected to work individually and with others, to create an atmosphere that is safe, valuing one another, and open to diverse perspectives. Everyone is expected to show courtesy, civility, and respect for one another. Comments or postings that degrade or ridicule another, whether based on individual or cultural differences, are unacceptable.
Step Up/Step Back. If you are the person who feels very comfortable sharing or sharing lots, take note of how often you are sharing, and consider giving time for others to share. By all means, be present and active in this conversation, but make sure others have the time to participate as well. If you tend to be a quiet participant, take a chance and “step up” with your idea, share your concerns, your ideas, concerns, and excitement with the group. I will in turn do my best to make sure that this is safe for you.
Participation/Engagement. Thinking is not a spectator sport. You need to participate in class by communicating your understanding and testing others’ understanding with questions and dialogue. This course requires active participation, which is crucial to your success in becoming a critical thinker. The more you put into it, the more you will get out of it. Active participation includes being prepared to discuss readings, assignments, and concepts, engaging yourself in classroom activities and discussion, and putting your best effort in both formal and informal assignments. To this end, please refrain from using your phone in class unless it’s an emergency or related to classroom activities.
Have fun! This course is an adventure in exploring your thought processes, empowering yourself with the ability to evaluate information, and reasoning through arguments that you encounter. Some of what we do may be personally and intellectually uncomfortable. It is okay to express your discomfort so long as you are open to safely exploring beyond those comfort zones. Make the most of it and have fun!
Statement of Learning Success
Your success in this class is important to me. We all learn differently, and everyone struggles sometimes. You are not, ever, the only one! If there are aspects of this course that prevent you from learning or exclude you, please let me know as soon as possible. Together we’ll develop strategies to meet both your needs and the requirements of the course. I also encourage you to reach out to the student resources available through UW, and I am happy to connect you with a person or center if you would like. It is my intent that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives be well served by this course, that students’ learning needs be addressed, and that the diversity that students bring to this class can be comfortably expressed and be viewed as a resource, strength and benefit to all students. Please come to me at any time with any concerns.
Expertise
I invite your expertise in improving this course. Please offer suggestions on materials that may enhance our discussions and exercise, and provide feedback on my approach to this course, with suggestions for additional topics or considerations. Thanks in advance!
Required Materials
Class materials, articles, chapters, supplemental resources, grades, and announcements will be posted in each class’s module on Canvas: https://canvas.uw.edu. There are several books that we will be reading from for this course that you can either purchase, lend from the library, or obtain through other means. Let me know if you have trouble accessing anything and I can help! (Note: Sometimes we’ll be reading a few chapters of these books and not their entirety).
Books to Acquire (We will be reading parts of many other books which I will include in PDF form. These you’ll have to obtain on your own.)
- Toscano, Alberto. Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis. Verso, 2023.
- Goldstein, Alyosha, and Simón Ventura Trujillo. For Antifascist Futures: Against the Violence of Imperial Crisis. Common Notions, 2022.
- Klein, Naomi, and Astra Taylor. End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2026.
- Crabapple, Molly. Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund. One World, 2026.
Assignments and Grading
- Seminar Participation (15% of grade)
For the purposes of this class, participation means attending class (pending extenuating circumstances) and in class, practicing engagement. I understand that folks “engage” in different ways – some like to talk it out, some like to listen and absorb, some write it down for later digestion. When I say, “obvious engagement,” I mean being punctual, alert and attentive. Just to be clear, clues that you are not engaged and participating include head down on the desk, texting or generally having a mobile device in your hand, not being a contributing member of small teamwork we do in class, or talking amongst your classmates about something not related to what we’re discussing. - Reading Reflections (25% of grade)
All students are responsible for reading all provided material, some of which can be found on Canvas, while the rest is available in the bookstore, library, or electronically. You are responsible for writing 5 reading reflections. These should be roughly 2 pages and double-spaced and should be uploaded to the designated folder in Canvas before our Wednesday classes begin in which the papers or readings that you write about are discussed.
Reading Reflections can be opportunities to think with the text in relation to your own lives, research, and experiences, or can respond to one or more of the questions below. They can either dwell on one of the week’s readings or what they collectively do together. The goal for writing these response papers is to spark classroom conversation and produce more collaborative engagement, as well as to help you think through concepts that you might later develop in your final paper. Reflections should not overlap with weeks that you are already engaged in discussion leadership. Please only write 1 per week. So, in other words, you need to write these for 5 separate weeks.
Possible questions to address in your responses:
- Is there one paragraph or section of the article or chapters that excites, inspires, or confuses you and why? (Please choose a part beyond the introduction).
- What sources and methods do the author or authors use, and what does this allow them to argue or highlight?
- What is a particular piece or group of pieces trying to accomplish—in the world, for the discipline, or for a particular research sub-area?
- What kinds of “knowledge politics” are being practiced by this piece or group of pieces?
- As a system for advancing an argument, how does this text work – what are its different parts or strategies and what is each doing?
- How do this week’s readings relate to those of other weeks?
- Discussion Leadership (15% of grade)
With the exception of Week 1, you’ll each take a turn facilitating our seminar discussion (perhaps with one other person pending class size). Either solo or with your co-leader, please develop some creative ways of guiding our engagement with ideas in the readings. I very much welcome you to bring in real world examples of concepts that we engage with in the readings.
As you design your session, you may decide to focus mainly on the substance of the readings (what are they ‘about’ in terms of their theoretical and empirical contributions, individually and as a set). Or you may decide to also guide us toward additional ways of engaging these pieces: What is a particular piece or group of pieces trying to accomplish, in the world, for the discipline, or for a particular research sub-area? What kinds of “knowledge politics” are being practiced by this piece? As a system for advancing an argument, how does this text work – what are its different parts or strategies and what is each doing?
Generally, we’ll spend the first half of class with you facilitating the discussion, then break for 15 minutes, and then I will continue to facilitate. - Final Paper Abstract (5% of grade)
You will be responsible for handing in an abstract of what your final paper will be about midway through the quarter. These will then be peer reviewed by your classmates during class. - Final Paper (40% of grade)
Each student will be responsible for a final paper. Final papers should grow out of class readings and discussions but also be an opportunity for you to develop a line of research or question that you are interested in pertaining to fascist and/or antifascist geographies. This might relate to research that you are already engaged in but could also be opportunities to explore something new. I would advise you to ground your paper in something material, whether that means utilizing primary or secondary sources, or perhaps engaging with ethnography, photographs, poetry, speculative fiction, media, or other objects.
The two requirements are that:
a) You reference 4 texts that we have read in class.
b) Papers should be minimally 12 pages in length, 12pt font, and double-spaced, plus a bibliography (using any style guide of your choosing).
Class time will be dedicated for students to discuss and collectively workshop their paper ideas, as well as work out how these papers are situated within their MA or PhD research (if applicable). Students will present their final paper ideas the last week of class during the second half of class (5% of which will count towards your final paper grade).
Final grades will be based upon the following scale:
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CLASS EXPECTATIONS/ACADEMIC CONDUCT |
Inclusivity. A robustly inclusively public university is one of the cornerstones of a healthy society – one of the most important institutions of a democracy. I strive to make my classroom a place where each of us contributes to this by fostering a climate of inclusiveness that respects all points of view, facilitates constructive dialogue across the full spectrum of community membership, and serves to enhance everyone’s learning and understanding. You are a tremendously diverse group of people with respect to race, gender, religion, age, citizenship status, first language, ability, sexuality, socio-economic status, veteran status and much more. Each of you is a welcome and invaluable part of this community.
If you know of any factors in your life that require us to adapt aspects of the course to help you learn up to your potential, please make an appointment with me to discuss. If these factors are recognized disabilities under the ADA, please register with Disability Resources for Students (DRS) and bring your letter of accommodation to me as soon as possible so that we develop a plan to accommodate your needs. DRS: http://depts.washington.edu/uwdrs, 011 Mary Gates Hall; 206-543-8924 (Voice and relay); E-mail: uwdrs@uw.edu.
Stay connected. Read syllabus, instructions, class emails carefully. Announcements will go to YourNetID@uw.edu– so check this account or set it up to forward. You will need to use your UW Google Account for this class (This is DIFFERENT than personal gmail/Google accounts you may have been using before you came to UW, and requires you to activate UW Google apps for your NetID. If you have not done this, or aren’t sure, visit this page: http://www.washington.edu/itconnect/connect/email/google-apps/getting-started).
Be professional, build a positive community. Treat one another with respect. Ask constructive questions. Listen to each other. Be a full participant. Be a resource for our collaboration. No vulgarity; no personal attacks; no hostile, discriminatory, or stereotyping remarks about other social groups – race, ethnicity, gender, age, class, housing status, and so on.
Be honest. Academic dishonesty, including but not limited to plagiarism, cheating, or submitting academic work that has previously been submitted (without citation or previous permission of instructor) will be penalized. If you have questions about the policy, see me or review details here: https://depts.washington.edu/grading/pdf/AcademicResponsibility.pdf. Academic dishonesty will be handled according to the University’s Student Conduct Code: http://www.washington.edu/admin/rules/policies/WAC/478-121TOC.html.
Recording
You are not permitted to record and/or disseminate instructional content without the permission of the instructor (unless approved as a disability accommodation).
Generative AI (including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grammarly, and AI- assisted translation software, and more)
I encourage you not to use Generative AI. I do not sanction the use of generative AI for any of your assignments in this class. Using AI to write assignments means that you are less likely to learn critical thinking and writing skills, and generally you are not developing your own thinking about digital geographies. MIT have recently published a study which associates use of AI with the development of fewer neural connections. Gen AI is an additional problem in a critical geography class because there is evidence that the AI that ChatGPT is based on is reproducing underlying biases of its creators.
As Anna Kornbluh, Krista Muratore, Eric Hayot write, “Generative AI cuts out process, but thinking is process. Shortcuts degrade quality: LLM outputs, simulations of training data found on the internet, are inaccurate and often biased. This technology, heavily promoted by big money, relies on stolen property and exploited laborers, and exacts significant environmental costs. It is also being used in contexts of militarism and war. Evidence is also rolling in that the tools are bad for brain functioning.” See: https://against-a-i.com/syllabus-language/
Also check out: “Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task” by Nataliya Kosmyna et al.: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.08872
Complete assignments on time. Please be sure to hand your reading reflections in prior to class so that you are prepared for classroom conversation. Let me know if you need an extension with these and we can discuss. Similarly, I will need your final papers in on time to get you a grade for the class at the end of the quarter.
Student Code of Conduct for Geography Classrooms
The Department of Geography is committed to ensuring a classroom environment that contributes to optimum teaching and learning for all students. Individuals who engage in disruptive behavior that creates a negative or threatening environment for teaching and learning will be asked to leave the classroom by the instructor. These requests are not negotiable. Disruptive behavior includes verbal or physical aggression toward other students or faculty, threats of violence, unyielding argument or debate, yelling inside or outside of the classroom, untimely outbursts, violating class policies about technology use or seating, refusing to follow faculty directions, and entering and exiting the classroom in disruptive ways. (from https://geography.washington.edu/student-code-conduct)
Student Care & Safety Resources
It is important that you take care of yourselves inside and outside of class as you work through stress and other obstacles. There are many different support services on campus that can help, such as the Counseling Center, Hall Health, and the IMA. UW’s Student Care program can help you connect to these and other resources around campus. You can learn more and contact them directly: http://depts.washington.edu/livewell/student-care, livewell@uw.edu, or 206.543.6085. If you are concerned about yourself or a friend who is struggling, SafeCampus is a helpful resource to learn more about how to facilitate access to campus-based support services. Please save the number for SafeCampus, 206.685.7233 in your cell phones.
Access and Accommodations
Your experience in this class is important to me. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please communicate your approved accommodations to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course. If you have not yet established services through DRS but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), you are welcome to contact DRS at 206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu or disability.uw.edu. DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions. Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructor(s) and DRS. It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.
Religious Accommodations
Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request).
The University of Washington acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations.
Class Schedule
I may change readings around depending on how everyone is doing. If so, I’ll announce it in Canvas - so stay tuned!
Since the quarter moves fast and there is a lot to cover, we will be diving into the readings for Week 1 on the first day of class. No need to prepare a reading reflection on these but I encourage you to read them so that we can better be on the same page together.
Week 1, Sept 30: Why Study Geographies of Fascism and Antifascism?
Ferreira da Silva, Denise. 2024. “Untitled (Notes on Fascism This Time).” South Atlantic Quarterly 123 (2): 418–28. https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-11086811.
Gregory, Chris. “Fascism: The Story of an Idea – Ian Dunt & Dorian Lynskey: A Review.” Chrisgregorybooks, November 28, 2024. https://chrisgregorybooks.wordpress.com/2024/11/28/fascism-the-story-of-an-idea-ian-dunt-dorian-lynskey-a-review/.
Eco, Umberto. 1995. “Ur-Fascism.” The New York Review of Books, June 22. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/.
Buckle, Toby. “Fascists Really Believe It.” Liberal Currents, August 14, 2026. https://www.liberalcurrents.com/fascists-really-believe-it/.
Arcary, Valerio. “Is Bolsonaro a Neofascist?” Historical Materialism, April 25, 2021. https://www.historicalmaterialism.org/is-bolsonaro-a-neofascist/.
Week 2, Oct 7 (on Zoom): Historic Fascism vs This
Riley, Dylan. “Civil Society and Fascism in Interwar Europe.” The Civic Foundations of Fascism in Europe: Italy, Spain, and Romania, 1870–1945. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.
Riley, Dylan. “American Brumaire?” New Left Review, no. 103 (February 2017): 21–32.
Loick, Daniel, and Vanessa E. Thompson. “Surplus Fascism: Reflections on Current Tendencies of Abandonment in Germany and Beyond.” New German Critique 53, no. 1 (157) (2026): 203–23.
Benito Mussolini. “Fascism.” In Princeton Readings in Political Thought, with Mitchell Cohen. Princeton University Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv19fvzzk.49.
Mahmud, Lilith. “Fascism, a Haunting Spectral Politics and Resistance in Twenty-First-Century Italy.” In Beyond Populism: Angry Politics and the Twilight of Neoliberalism, edited by Jeff Maskovsky and Sophie Bjork-James. West Virginia University Press, 2020.
Sharp, Wiley, Sarah Fogel, Eden Kinkaid, and Nick Koenig. “Resisting Gender Fascism.” The Geographical Journal 191, no. 4 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.70011.
Marincea, Adina, and Veda Popovici. “Calling Fascism by Its Name: The Rise of the Radical Right and Organizing Leftist Resistance in Romania.” Lefteast, December 23, 2022. https://lefteast.org/author/adina-marincea-and-veda-popovici/.
Week 3, Oct 14: The Geographical Imagination
Philo, Chris. “Adorno, geography, fascism, antifascism,” and “Authoritarianism, astrology and the scaled spaces of fascism,” Adorno and the Antifascist Geographical Imagination. Edinburgh University Press, 2025.
Adorno Theodor W. “Introduction.” The Authoritarian Personality. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York, 1950.
Atkinson, David. “Geographical Imaginations, Public Education and the Everyday Worlds of Fascist Italy.” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 18, no. 5 (2013): 561–79. https://doi.org/10.1080/1354571X.2013.839487.
Arendt, Hannah. “The Origins of Totalitarianism.” In Princeton Readings in Political Thought, with Mitchell Cohen. Princeton University Press, 2018.
Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Translated by Harry Zohn. 1936. https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm.
Week 4, Oct 21: Racial Capitalism and Fascism
Toscano, Alberto. Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis. Verso, 2023.
Robinson, Cedric J. “Fascism and the Intersections of Capitalism, Racialism, and Historical Consciousness.” In Cedric J. Robinson: On Racial Capitalism, Black Internationalism, and Cultures of Resistance, edited by H. L. T. Quan. Pluto, 2019.
Week 5, Oct 28: Fascism and Empire (Jen Rose Smith comes to part of class)
Poulantzas, Nicos. “Part One: The Period of Fascism.” Fascism and Dictatorship: The Third International and the Problem of Fascism. With Internet Archive. London: NLB, 1974. http://archive.org/details/fascismdictators0000poul.
Toscano, Alberto. “New Fascisms and the Crises of Empire: Lessons from the Americas.” South Atlantic Quarterly 123, no. 2 (2024): 255–72. https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-11086579.
Singh, Nikhil Pal. “Cold War.” Social Text 27, no. 3 (100) (2009): 67–70. https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-2009-010.
Césaire, Aimé. Discourse on Colonialism. NYU Press, 2001.
Gramsci, Antonio. “Speech to the Italian Parliament. 16 May 1925.” Translated by Michael Carley. Marxists.Org. Accessed September 14, 2026. https://www.marxists.org/archive/gramsci/1925/05/speech.htm.
Smith, Jen Rose. “Ice Among the Stars.” Ice Geographies: The Colonial Politics of Race and Indigeneity in the Arctic. Duke University Press, 2025.
Week 6, Nov 4: Antifascism Against Empire
Goldstein, Alyosha, and Simón Ventura Trujillo. For Antifascist Futures: Against the Violence of Imperial Crisis. Common Notions, 2022. https://www.amazon.com/Antifascist-Futures-Against-Violence-Imperial/dp/1942173563.
Jackson, George L. Blood in My Eye. Black Classic Press, 1996.
Sledge, Matt. “Prairieland Defendant Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Moving a Box of Antifascist Zines.” The Intercept, June 23, 2026. https://theintercept.com/2026/06/23/prairieland-texas-ice-protest-prison-sentences/.
Final Paper Abstracts Due
Week 7, Nov 11: 20th Century Turns
Maher, Henry. “Neoliberal Fascism? Fascist Trends in Early Neoliberal Thought and Echoes in the Present.” Contemporary Political Theory 23 (September 2023): 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296-023-00657-x.
Giroux, Henry A. “Fascist Politics and the Dread of White Supremacy in the Age of Disconnections.” Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies 46, no. 1 (2024): 102–17.
Tvorun-Dunn, Maxim. “A New Architecture of Fascism: Aesthetics of Nature and Purity in Generative Design.” Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, July 14, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486261468015.
Majaca, Antonia. How Much Fascism in the Maximum Power Principle? September 2026, no. 165. https://www.e-flux.com/journal/165/6776929/how-much-fascism-in-the-maximum-power-principle.
Banaji, Shakuntala. “Vigilante Publics: Orientalism, Modernity and Hindutva Fascism in India.” Javnost - The Public 25, no. 4 (2018): 333–50.
Wang, Xiaowei. “Content Violation.” The Ideas Letter, June 11, 2026. https://www.theideasletter.org/essay/content-violation/.
Workshop Final Paper Abstracts
Week 8, Nov 18: Technofascist Theory
Schwartz, Daniel. “Totalitarian Tools: Preface to a Theory.” Alternatives: Global, Local, Political (Los Angeles, CA) 10, no. 2 (1984): 255–66.
Slobodian, Quinn, and Ben Tarnoff. “Chapters 1-3.” Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed. Harper, 2026.
Burrows, Roger. “Urban Futures and the Dark Enlightenment: A Brief Guide for the Perplexed.” In Towards a Philosophy of the City: Interdisciplinary and Transcultural Perspectives, edited by Keith Jacobs and Jeff Malpas. Rowman and Littlefield, 2018.
Caldararo, Niccolo Leo. “Rene Girard, Ayn Rand and the War on Institutions.” SSRN Scholarly Paper No. 5507578. Social Science Research Network, September 19, 2025. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5507578.
Weigel, Moira. “Palantir Goes to the Frankfurt School.” Boundary 2 Online, July 10, 2020. https://www.boundary2.org/2020/07/moira-weigel-palantir-goes-to-the-frankfurt-school/.
Duran, Gil. “The Tech Plutocrats Dreaming of a Right-Wing San Francisco.” The New Republic, February 12, 2024. https://newrepublic.com/article/178675/garry-tan-tech-san-francisco.
Bhuiyan, Johana, Dara Kerr, and Nick Robins-Early. “Inside Tech Billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-Record Lectures about the Antichrist.” US News. The Guardian, October 10, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/10/peter-thiel-lectures-antichrist.
Week 9 (off for break)
Week 10, Dec 2: Antifascism in the times of Pogroms
Crabapple, Molly. Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund. One World, 2026.
Optional:
Denvir, Daniel. “Making the Jewish Bund w/ Molly Crabapple.” The Dig, August 5, 2026. https://www.thedigradio.com/podcast/making-the-jewish-bund-w-molly-crabapple/.
Present final paper ideas
Week 11, Dec 9: End Times Fascism and the Fight for the Living
Klein, Naomi, and Astra Taylor. End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2026
Present final paper ideas