Flying to conquer. The aeronautical pedagogy in narratives for children in Italy (1911–1945)

This paper analyses the representation of flight in children's narratives in Italy from the Libyan war to the end of the Second World War. For this period, it is possible to see an escalation in the centrality of the theme of flight, functional to the construction of the myth of the aviator which reaches its peak during fascism. The regime used the subject of flight extensively for propaganda purposes and to further consolidate those that were the fascist values: strength, the mastery and the conquest of the earth and the sky, and the supremacy of Italian spirit through technological and engineering advancement. The construction of the myth of the aviator made use of a variety of tools aimed at children, through the definition of an “aeronautical pedagogy”. Such construction aimed to stress the Italian superiority against the Arab and African inferiority. The theme of flight sanctioned and reaffirmed this hierarchy.