Call for paper - The Charter of Carnaro and its transnational diffusion

Annarita Gori Announcement
Location
Netherlands
Subject Fields
Contemporary History, Cultural History / Studies, Economic History / Studies, Intellectual History, Social History / Studies

Call for Papers – ESSCH Panel (Leiden, March 18-21 2020)

 

The Charter of Carnaro and its Transnational Diffusion

 

 

Over the past two decades a new wave of researches has pointed out the importance of focusing on the movements and forces that have cut across national borders. More specifically, various studies have noticed that the interwar period was characterised by an enduring cultural internationalism, leading to the importance of analysing the transnational circulation of ideas, practices, beliefs, networks and intellectuals.

 

Within this historiographical context, the Charter of Carnaro (Carta del Carnaro) of 1920 certainly represented an overshadowed topic of research.

 

The document represented the Constitution of the self-proclaimed State of the Italian Regency of Carnaro led by Gabriele D’Annunzio in Fiume between 1919 and 1920, tragically ended after the so-called Bloody Christmas of 1920 when Italian troops defeated D’Annunzio’s forces and occupied the city.Written by Alceste De Ambris and never applied, the Charter of Carnaro aimed at building up an entirely new kind of State, foreseeing a specific set of institutional tools and strategies in order to deal with various sectors of the national life.

 

Aiming at putting the Charter of Carnaro at the forefront of the historiographical discussion on alternative post-liberal constitutional models, the panel’s objective is to discuss the origins, characteristics and transnational diffusion of the Charter of Carnaro, proposing a vast and multidisciplinary debate – open to political, economic, juridical and cultural history – dealing with the reception of Fiume’s constitutional text in multiple regions, times and political cultures.

 

In order to build up the panel, the organizers are particularly interest in proposals scrutinizing the origins, characteristics and reception of the Charter. Although open to all the approaches to the topic, the panellists are particularly encouraged to present proposals in relation to the following aspects:

 

a) Corporatism. The Charter of Carnaro was one of the first examples of constitutional text combining republicanism and corporatism, and could be seen as a model for further institutional elaboration both in authoritarian-fascist and republican-democratic regimes or movements.

b)Rights and duties of the citizens. De Ambris’ document contains a series of very innovative elements concerning civil rights and citizens’ political and juridical instruments, such as universal suffrage and referendum.

c) Gender equality. In a period when the political role of women was scarcely recognised and the feminist movement started to rise, the Charter ensured a gender equality of rights and duties, especially concerning vote, military service, education and social insurance.

d) Public education. The Charter assigned to public education a pivotal role for the social achievement and moral development of all the citizens. That was highly innovative for several reasons, especially the importance of art teaching, the multi-linguistic approach, the secularity and religious tolerance, and the mandatory and free of charge characteristics of primary education.

 

Please submit an abstract (up to 300 words max) and a short curriculum vitae (max 10 lines) with affiliation and contact information to Valerio Torreggiani (v.torreggiani@gmail.com) and Annarita Gori (annarita.gori@ics.ul.pt) by April 8, 2019.

 

The panel will be proposed for the European Social Science History Conference (Leiden, March 18-21, 2020).

Contact Information

Valerio Torreggiani (v.torreggiani@gmail.com) and AnnaritaGori (annarita.gori@ics.ul.pt)

Contact Email
v.torreggiani@gmail.com