Framing Culture and Diversity Today: Cultural Hegemony

We should be alarmed (but not surprised) that Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), Marxist, journalist, politician, and political philosopher, bore witness to a similar political movement in Italy in the early decades of the 20^th century. Gramsci was active in Socialist and Communist circles circa 1912, at the same time as Benito Mussolini. Then, after Mussolini rejected socialism, embraced nationalism and strong-armed his way into power in 1922, Gramsci witnessed Italy collapse into a one-party fascist dictatorship almost overnight. In five years or less, Mussolini dismantled liberal Italy by re-writing the Constitution, undermining the opposition parties, and closing democratic institutions. Then, in 1926, Mussolini imprisoned Gramsci under false pretense. Eleven years later, at the age of 46, Gramsci died from illnesses complicated by his imprisonment. While in prison, Gramsci produced writings that remain relevant today. In them, he critiqued Marxism, capitalism and fascism, among many other topics in over 3000 pages—writings that became known as his Prison Notebooks (Gramsci, 1971/1999).