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The AHRC-funded project, `The Cult of the Duce' conducted the first multi-faceted analysis of the genesis, functioning and decline of the personality cult of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, with an emphasis on the role of visual imagery in sustaining his authority. By staging an art exhibition in London, the research introduced little-known twentieth-century Italian anti-Fascist artwork to British audiences which illustrated the importance of manipulating visual imagery for political authority. 3 documentary films were made about the research which were shown publicly but have been primarily used as a teaching aid to enhance learning of Fascism and Italian culture and history in HEIs and FE colleges around the world. Lastly, the research has provided the historical context underpinning the conservation of built heritage and tourism in the province of Forli, Italy, where Mussolini was born.
The research project `The Cult of the Duce: Mussolini and the Italians 1918-2005' has facilitated a better understanding of fascism and its legacy by challenging preconceptions about Benito Mussolini and examining the legacy of his leadership `cult' in Italy and beyond. The project achieved impact on CULTURAL LIFE through collaboration with a professional curatorial team in an exhibition at a significant UK gallery, the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art in London, engaging in the process with a wider, non-academic audience. The project's public engagement activities and the production of teaching resources in a variety of media have also had an EDUCATIONAL impact, improving public awareness of the propaganda strategies of Fascism.
Dr Alexandra Wilson's research on the reception of Puccini's operas was disseminated to a large non-specialist, international audience, principally via numerous opera house programme essays, but also via radio broadcasts, pre-performance talks, a podcast and a book for general readers. Accessible yet authoritative, her research on the historical contexts of Puccini's operas has transformed the way in which they are written about for a general audience, challenging outdated stereotypes. Her work has deepened audience understanding, particularly of Puccini's lesser- known works, encouraging audiences to explore other unfamiliar repertory. It has helped both operatic newcomers and seasoned audience members to engage more effectively with the art-form as a whole and influenced the way in which opera is written about in the media.
The Case Study illustrates how research into cult, fantasy and horror films has been used to engage organisers of film festivals — most notably the `Abertoir' festival based in Wales and the `Offscreen' festival in Brussels — contributing to enhanced educational content which provided new audience experiences at both festivals. The primary activity was the incorporation of the presentation of research findings to audiences within festival programmes. The impact derives from the resulting changes in the way that the festivals were organised, programmed and contextualized for audiences and consequent changes in the profile of the festivals concerned. The main benefit relates primarily to the organizers; in particular, the enhancement of the educational content of the Abertoir Festival has enabled it to bid for additional funding from the Film Agency for Wales during the census period.
Research at UCL spread public understanding of mafias around the world, contributed to the professional preparation and development of law enforcement officers and investigating magistrates engaged in front-line work against the mafias, provided historical evidence supporting magistrates in Reggio Calabria seeking to create a legal precedent for the successful prosecution of the `ndrangheta under anti-mafia laws. It contributed to the memorialisation of victims of mafia violence in Sicily, aided the work of the anti-protection racket organisation Addiopizzo by influencing its staff and alerting visitors to Sicily to the importance of critical consumption in order to avoid involuntarily funding the mafia.
This case study refers to civil society, cultural life, public discourse and education. As an international authority on propaganda and persuasion, David Welch has raised public understanding of this key component of contemporary life across a number of countries through:
The television series has been broadcast in five countries and achieved global viewing figures in excess of 7 million. Public attention to the museum exhibitions was equally significant with 384,000 people visiting the Holocaust Memorial exhibition in its first year and 68,250 that at the British Library. Reactions to these contributions have been overwhelmingly positive, revealing the reach and significance of the impact.
The impact of this case study is located in uncovering the contribution of Margaret Collier to the Anglo-Italian literary and cultural relations from Risorgimento to Resistance through her individual initiative as well as her legacy in the literary works and political commitment of her daughter, Giacinta Galletti, and grand-daughter, Joyce Salvadori. Impact is achieved through disseminating and promoting the understanding of this lesser-known intergenerational female legacy nationally and internationally through publications, conferences, and lectures in public domains; in translating texts previously available only in Italian; in broadening the knowledge of nineteenth- and twentieth-century British literary communities in Italy; and in deepening the understanding of concepts of nationality, multiculturalism, migration, otherness and difference.
Through exploring, articulating and reflecting on the largely unexplored lived experience of the Allied bombing of occupied France between 1940 and 1945, which resulted in at least 56,000 French civilian deaths, University of Reading research has had wide-ranging and significant impact on:
Research by Rutter and collaborators led to the production of Historia Numorum. Italy, a handbook of the coinages of pre-Roman Italy. HNItaly has become a tool for coin dealers, museum staff, and archaeological services alike, used both to identify, value and market goods, and to identify, label, study, and display holdings for public appreciation. In addition, HNItaly has been employed in the training of numismatists world-wide, including in the worlds of commerce and trade as well as public security.
Bull's research on the legacy of Italian terrorism has enhanced public understanding of the lack of closure around the political violence that convulsed the country in the 1960s to1980s and in doing so has contributed to processes of commemoration, memorialisation and reconciliation. It has benefited communities of interest in civil society, primarily Associations of Victims, school children, and the wider public. Bombing attacks on innocent civilians and an `armed struggle' carried out by ideologically-inspired groups in Italy over the period was responsible for over 15,000 violent acts, resulting in around 500 deaths, and over 1,100 injuries. The Italian Victims' Associations with whom Bull has worked have tried to establish the truth, keep alive public memory, inform the public, and especially the young. They have welcomed the active collaboration and input of informed academics such as Bull.