‘Fascismo d’alta quota’. Tourism in Trentino under the fascist regime

During the Fascist era, the Trentino-South Tyrol border region (annexed to Italy after the First World War) became a laboratory for Italianisation and propaganda. Alpine tourism – formerly the preserve of the Austro–Hungarian elite – was transformed into an instrument of social control and ideological outreach. Through the construction of new roads, mountain huts, and ski resorts, alongside national and patriotic events, the regime both reinforced its presence and projected an image of a vigorous, modern nation. Tourism in Trentino thus shifted from an elite pastime to a mass activity for the emerging middle classes, advancing the Fascist programme of mass nationalisation. This study examines tourism’s dual role in Fascist Trentino: as a vehicle for economic integration and as a mechanism of cultural and political propaganda. Focusing on advertising rhetoric and sporting events that emphasised physical strength, patriotism, and national belonging, it draws on official documents, journalistic and specialised magazines, multimedia archives, and a comprehensive bibliography to show how mountain tourism reshaped the region’s economy and fostered a Fascist ‘national and patriotic consciousness’.

Child Labour and Long-Term Absence in Japanese Fishing Villages during the 1950s Post-War Recovery

This study examines whether Japanese prefectures with documented child labour in 1950s fishing villages show elevated rates of incomplete compulsory education. Using prefecture-level data from the 2020 National Population Census, this study focuses on adults who did not complete junior high school, relating these outcomes to historical evidence of long-term school absence associated with fisheries-based labour. Based on a systematic review, prefectures were classified into Group A, where absence was primarily linked to labour demands, and Group B, where labour was accompanied by documented trafficking practices. Group-level comparisons show that non-completion was higher than the national average (0.70%) among Group A men (0.89%) and Group B women (1.53%). At the prefectural level, particularly pronounced rates were observed among men in Hiroshima (4.25%) and women in Okinawa (5.66%), consistent with historically documented labour-related educational disruption. The study highlights the relevance of adult literacy and lifelong learning from a life-course perspective.

Spying in South Asia: Britain, the United States, and India’s secret Cold War by Paul M. Mcgarr, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, 2024, 360 pp., $$ 54.50 AUD [ebook], ISBN: 9781108919630

The Bibliography of Post-War Documentary Literature : Processing war and defeat in post-World War II Japan

This study examines the representation of war and defeat in post-war Japan through sociology, political science, and history, focusing on documentary literature ( kiroku bungaku , 記録文学) that addresses colonial war and military defeat narratives. It explores the portrayal of Japanese individuals in prisoner-of-war camps in the former Soviet Union and Joseon during Japan’s imperial collapse. By analyzing narratives from the Bibliography of Post-War Documentary Literature ( Kōsa Jimu Sankō Shiryō , Volume 4), compiled by the National Diet Library in 1949, the study investigates the rise of the genre in post-war Japan, particularly through works like A Story of the Border ( Kokkyō monogatari , 国境物語) and The Flowing Stars Are Alive ( Nagareru hoshi wa ikiteiru , 流れる星は生きている). The popularity of documentary literature invites reflection on whether individual memories can be unified into a collective history. This study argues that the genre has allowed individuals to reinterpret shared experiences with state power as subjective narratives, distinguishing them from historiographical notions of truth. First, it highlights Japanese documentary literature as an underexplored yet critical lens for understanding war and defeat through the perspectives of everyday citizens. Second, it addresses the stagnation in Japanese war literature’s dichotomy of perpetrator versus victim. This research breaks away from that binary approach, offering nuanced insights into how shared memories can reshape historical discourse.

Workers’ uprising: Japanese factories and labor movements in Thailand during the Pacific War

This article considers Thai-Japanese relations during the Pacific War, focusing on the economic activities of Japanese companies and the labor movement in Thailand. Thailand had become a supply base which supported Japanese military operations in Southeast Asia since 1941. Japanese companies in Thailand produced munitions, daily necessities, and food and supplied them exclusively to the Japanese forces. While some workers went on strike to raise wages and improve working conditions, the labor movement developed the economic struggle into various anti-Japanese movements under the guidance of the Thai Communist Party (TCP). The workers disrupted the production activities of the Japanese military through strikes, slowdowns, and sabotage, and damaged their military operations by producing defective munitions. Using underground wartime Chinese newspapers, the writings of former labor activists, documents at the National Archives of Thailand, and personal interviews as sources, this study looks at the actions taken by Japanese companies and how the labor movement developed in Thailand. The article also shows how the TCP developed the labor movement against both Japan and the Phibun government based on the recognition that Thailand was a semi-feudal society in the process of being colonized.

Legacies of the Old Empire: The Formation of Aviation and Industrial Medicine in 1950–1960s South Korea and the Dis/Continuity of the Korea–Japan Knowledge Network

This paper examines how knowledge circulated since 1945, merging Cold War history with the transnational history of knowledge. While existing studies have focused on U.S. influence in transforming knowledge circulation within the Cold War's global order, postcolonial states present different dynamics. Countries such as South Korea and Taiwan transitioned from Japan's imperial network to a U.S.-centered system after the war, raising critical questions: What happened to knowledge networks that operated under the Japanese Empire when American hegemony emerged? Did these networks dissolve or persist? Such issues are specific to postcolonial contexts and cannot be fully addressed within Western frameworks. Through case studies of aviation medicine and industrial medicine in post-liberation Korea, this paper explores the dynamics of discontinuity and continuity in knowledge networks. It demonstrates that the circulation of knowledge was shaped not only by American influence as the new imperial power but also by continuing interactions between postcolonial Korea and its former empire, Japan. The findings reveal that different academic disciplines experienced varying patterns of knowledge transfer, highlighting the complex interplay between new and former imperial powers in shaping postcolonial knowledge production.

When war narratives encounter populist audiences: a case of the Russia-Ukraine War on Chinese social media

This research explores Chinese netizens’ response to Russia-Ukraine war narratives on Chinese social media, and how online populism affects the reception of war narratives. Taking a comparative perspective, it examines the mechanisms and reasons behind the dynamics in the Chinese social media users’ comments ( N  = 30261) toward Russian and Ukrainian Weibo posts ( N  = 124). With the help of the natural language processing (NLP) approach, the article highlights populism as a significant characteristic among comments on these war narratives, emphasizing the role of ideological influences in shaping public perception of geopolitical events. While Russia’s narrative initially garnered support, its popularity waned over time due to the heterogeneous nature of Chinese online populism. Conversely, Ukraine’s narrative faced initial challenges but eventually gained more support, largely due to the decreasing credibility of the opposing narratives.

A Symbolic Mirror of the Hero A Jungian Review of Superman by James Gunn (2025)

In this essay, we look at some key scenes from James Gunn’s Superman to explore the deeper ideas behind the story, especially themes of war, moral decisions, and the role of the hero. Utilizing Jungian reflection on projection, individuation, and the possibility of moral action in a fractured world, the discussion shows how certain images and story choices in the film raise questions about psychology and culture, like how people project their fears, how they grow as individuals, and how they make ethical choices in a divided world. In this way, we argue that Superman is not only a simple blockbuster, but also a symbolic story that encourages today’s audiences to face their anxieties, think about power in new ways, and consider what it really means to “be a hero” now.

Hope, Hades, and the Self

Following the October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel and the devastating war that has unfolded since, this paper draws on several Jungian thinkers to explore the dialectical relationship between hope and hopelessness, showing how despair may open transformative possibilities. A patient’s dream illustrates the interplay of grief and renewal, whereas two myths of descent into Hades reveal hope emerging through surrender. Ultimately, the essay suggests that relinquishing hope can give rise to a new form of hope—the “ego-self structure” as hope.

Exhibiting Greek war history: The origin and foundation of the war museum of Athens

The War Museum of Athens, the first public war museum in Greece, was founded in 1969, during the dictatorship that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974, but was inaugurated in 1975 after the restoration of democracy. Emerging in a politically charged climate marked by distrust of the military, its establishment provoked skepticism about the institution’s purpose and message. Drawing on archival materials of the time, including photographs and newspapers, this paper describes the period of development of the War Museum of Athens from its conception under the dictatorship rule to its opening after the restoration of democracy. With a focus on the War History of Greeks exhibition which took place at Zappeion in 1968 on the colonels’ first year in power, this article demonstrates how this event provided the conceptual foundation for the War Museum of Athens. The article argues that the War Museum of Athens, although inaugurated in a new political context, inherited the ideological and museological framework of the Zappeion exhibition and tried to reconfigure it. Through continuity in narrative structure, visual elements, and selective historical emphasis, it perpetuated a heroic and defensive vision of Greek history while omitting episodes of internal division.