Authoritarianism and citizenship focus of Pergher’s keynote address

Roberta Pergher, Ph.D., associate professor of history at Indiana University, will be on the Hanover College campus Saturday, Oct. 4, to present the annual Cornelius and Anna Cook O’Brien Lecture as the keynote address for the 96th-annual Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences (IASS) conference.

Pergher, who also serves as director of the Institute for European Studies, is an expert on the rise of fascism during the period between World War I and World War II. Her study, “Mussolini’s Nation-Empire: Sovereignty and Settlement in Italy’s Borderlands, 1922-1943,” explored how ordinary people made sense of, challenged and rethought their place in society in the context of shifting state boundaries and collective identities.

The O’Brien Lecture and IASS keynote address, “The Unsovereign Citizen: Exploring the Meaning of Citizenship in Authoritarian Regimes,” will begin at 1 p.m. in the Science Center. The lecture is open to the public, free of charge, as well as conference attendees.

Two of Pergher’s previously released co-edited volumes have clear parallels with the present day – including the question of coercion and consent in Fascist Italy. “In the Society of Fascists: Acclamation, Acquiescence and Agency in Mussolini’s Italy,” published in 2012, offered a look at the longevity and popularity of Benito Mussolini’s government. “Beyond Versailles: Sovereignty, Legitimacy, and the Formation of New Polities after the Great War,” published in 2019, examined outside influences on the Paris Peace Conference and its eventual resonance on nations impacted by the war.

Pergher’s forthcoming book on fascist imperialism, part of the “Cambridge Elements Series,” will focus on citizenship and the contract between the individual and the state.

Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences – 96th-Annual Conference