Resistance from Aristotle to Star Wars

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 26.04.12

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Rationale
  3. Background Knowledge & Content
  4. Teaching Strategies
  5. Classroom Activities
  6. Appendix On Implementing District Standards.
  7. Annotated Bibliography
  8. Notes

Far Far Away and Close to Home: Fascism and Resistance Through Star Wars

Christopher De Matteo

Published September 2026

Tools for this Unit:

Notes

[1] Buxton, Nick. “Mapping Fascism: Global Networks, Power, and the Rise of the Far Right.” Transnational Institute, 2026, accessed June 22, 2026, https://www.tni.org/en/mapping-fascism.

[2] Robert C. Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), 8.

[3] Adrian Lyttelton, The Seizure of Power, 3rd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2004). 42.

[4] Ibid, 4.

[5] Brennan, T. Corey, The Fasces: A History of Ancient Rome’s Most Dangerous Political Symbol (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2022). 1-7.

[6] Wikimedia Commons, access July 31, 2026, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fasces_1895_Otto.jpg

[7] Wikimedia Commons, accessed July 31, 2026, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Lincoln_Memorial_Statue,_with_inscription_in_background.jpg?uselang=en#Licensing

[8] Ibid, 4-5.

[9] Wikimedia Commons, access July 31, 2026, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:National_Fascist_Party_logo.svg

[10] FL Carsten, The Rise of Fascism, 2nd ed. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980). 45-46.

[11] Ibid, 46-48.

[12] Ibid, 48

[13] Paxton, Anatomy of Fascism, 5.

[14] Carsten, Rise of Fascism, 49-62.

[15] Ibid, 49-62.

[16] Christopher Duggan, Fascist Voices (London: Vintage Books, 2012). 303.

[17] Ibid, 305.

[18] Ibid, 305.

[19] Ibid, 305-306

[20] Ibid, 315.

[21] Ibid, 314.

[22] Zeev Sternhell, “How to Think about Fascism and its Ideology,” Constellations 15, no. 3 (2008).

[23]Nicola Labanca, “Colonial rule, colonial repression and war crimes in the Italian colonies,” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 9, no. 3 (2007).

[24] Paxton, Anatomy of Fascism, 259.

[25] Ibid, 252.

[26] Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, 38.

[27] Ibid, 38-39.

[28] Ibid, 483-484

[29] Paxton, Anatomy of Fascism, 41-42, 219-220.

[30] Light & Magic, season 1, episode 1, “Gang of Outsiders,” Lucasfilm. 2022.

[31] “Star Wars raises questions on US Policy,” WBZTV CBS 4 2005, accessed June 22, 2026, https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-05/16/content_442488.htm.

[32] Popper, Karl. “Chapter 7, The Principle of Leadership, footnote 4”. The Open Society and Its Enemies: New One-Volume Edition. Princeton University Press. 2013, 1st Pub. 1945. p. 581.

[33] Carsten, Rise of Fascism, 152-155.

[34] Aristotle, Politics, V. IX. 4

[35] Brigit Maier-Katkin Nathan Stoltzfus, Protest in Hitler's “National Community” (New York: Berghahn Books, 2016). 1.

[36] Jill Stephenson, “Women and Protest in Wartime Nazi Germany,” in Protest in Hitler's “National Community”, ed. Brigit Maier-Katkin Nathan Stoltzfus (New York: Berghahn Books, 2016). 20.

[37] Ibid, 20-21

[38] Richard Hanser, A Noble Treason (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2012). 1-85.

[39] Ibid, 13-24.

[40] Ibid, 169.

[41] Digital Inquiry Group, “Historical Thinking Chart,” https://www.inquirygroup.org/history-lessons/historical-thinking-chart

[42] Ibid.

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