Between Columbia's Legs: A History of America and Fascism

Hosted by Dr. Ryan Flavelle with co-host Kaitlin White

Columbia is the American dream. Columbia is the American (white male) fantasy. Fascism is what Columbia chooses to connect to herself and why. The why is Empire.

Every element of John Gast’s American Progress (1872) is dynamic, yet the idea it represents remains static, fixed in time from the moment of Columbus’ arrival in Guanahani, and never fundamentally changed. Columbia is and has always been our interface with empire.  

The European colonial project in the Americas is foundationally fascist, and the relationship between the young girl, those she impels forward and those she banishes is unchanged from Gast's portrayal. The Americas have been unable to escape from between Columbia’s legs.

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