Faculty Spotlight: Nazism is Not the Past — Hannah Leffingwell on Dagmar Herzog, Sex After Fascism, and Why Donald Trump is Not Camp

• Tagged:
• History
• Political Theory
• Queer Theory

What does sexual morality have to do with genocidal politics? In this episode of Faculty Spotlight, hosts Mark DeLucas and Lauren K. Wolfe sit down with Hannah Leffingwell—historian, queer theorist, musician, and novelist—to discuss the work of Dagmar Herzog, historian of sexuality whose celebrated book Sex After Fascism undid the myth that all Nazis were closeted homosexuals by exposing how it arose in the first place, and that long after the war had ended. Along the way, the three hash out: the uses and pitfalls of theory in the study of history, strategic misprisions of the past for political needs in the present, what sort of lens the history of sexuality can be for understanding mass political phenomena, and whether and how to invoke 20th-century fascisms to explain conservative reaction in the 21st. Tune in to discover why Nazism is not the past, how fascism was never anti-sex, why anti-queer and anti-trans animus have never been peripheral, why Trump can never be camp, and positive panegyrics for Chappell Roan and A Complete Unknown. 

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This episode of Faculty Spotlight was produced by Ryan Lentini. If you like what you’ve heard, consider supporting the podcast by becoming a BISR member or subscribing to Brooklyn Institute’s Patreon page, where you can enjoy access to all past and future episodes of this podcast, as well as (Pop) Cultural Marxism, Practical Criticism, and other BISR podcast productions.