Researcher Profile

Associate Professor Nick Carter

National School of Arts and Humanities

Areas of expertise: Modern Italian history; modern European history; Italian Risorgimento; Italian Fascism; historiography; difficult heritage
HDR Supervisor accreditation status: Full
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6363-4148
Phone: +61 2 9701 4587
Email: Nick.Carter@acu.edu.au
Location: ACU North Sydney Campus/ACU Strathfield Campus

Nick Carter is a specialist in nineteenth and twentieth century Italian history and historiography, including the Italian Risorgimento in transnational context and the ‘difficult heritage’ of Fascist monuments, monumental art and architecture in postwar Italy. Nick’s interest in transnational history has also led to his current involvement as a Chief Investigator in the ARC Linkage Project ‘Conviction Politics: The Convict Routes of Australian Democracy’. Nick has also researched and published on Britain’s fraught relationship with the European Union.

Peer esteem markers: The Australian Journal of Politics and History hailed Nick’s Modern Italy in Historical Perspective (2010) as an 'instant classic alongside works by [Richard] Bosworth, [Denis] Mack Smith and [Paul] Ginsborg.' His edited book, Britain, Ireland and the Italian Risorgimento (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) was described by Eugenio Biagini (Cambridge University) as an 'innovative, sophisticated and multi-dimensional reappraisal of some of the key aspects of this fascinating page of transnational history'. The leading historian of Italy, John A. Davis, considered Nick’s opening chapter to the edited collection to be ‘the best and most balanced current critical overview of the now extensive bodies of older and more recent literature’. More recently, Nick’s 2019 article, The Meaning of Monuments: Remembering Italo Balbo in Italy and the United States, shared the Christopher Seton-Watson Memorial Prize for the best article in Modern Italy (Cambridge University Press).

Nick is currently engaged on two major research projects:

1. After Mussolini: The Difficult Heritage and Architectural Legacy of Dictatorship in Italy. Under contract with Cambridge University Press.
2. Conviction Politics: The Convict Routes of Australian Democracy. Nick is a Chief Investigator on this international and multidisciplinary ARC Linkage project (2020-2023).

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Select publications

• Carter, N. (2021). ‘I monumenti a Italo Balbo, in Italia e negli Stati Uniti’, in A. Baravelli (ed.) Il Fascismo in persona: Italo Balbo, la storia e il mito, Milan: Mimesis, pp. 211-238.
• Carter, N. (2020). ‘“What shall we do with it now?” The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana and the difficult heritage of Italian Fascism’, in Australian Journal of Politics and History, vol. 66, no. 3, 377-395.
• Carter, N. (2019). ‘Mazzini and Education’, in Annali di storia dell'educazione e delle istituzioni scolastiche, vol. 26, 6-26.
• Carter, N. (2019). ‘Playing the liberal game: Sir James Hudson in Italy, 1852-1885’, in M. Suonpaa and O. Wright (eds.), Diplomacy and Intelligence in the Nineteenth-Century Mediterranean World, London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 101-131.
• Carter, N., & Martin, S. (2019) ‘Dealing with Difficult Heritage: Italy and the Material Legacies of Fascism’, in Modern Italy, vol. 24, no. 2, 117-122.
• Carter, N. (2019). The Meaning of Monuments: Remembering Italo Balbo in Italy and the United States, in Modern Italy, vol. 24, no. 2, 219-235.
• Carter, N., and Martin, S. (2017). ‘The Management and Memory of Fascist Monumental Art in Postwar and Contemporary Italy: The Case of Luigi Montanarini's Apotheosis of Fascism’, in Journal of Modern Italian Studies, vol. 22, no. 3, 338-364.
• Carter, N. (2015). ‘Britain, Ireland and the Italian Risorgimento’, in N. Carter (ed.), Britain, Ireland and the Italian Risorgimento, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-32.
• Carter, N., ed. (2015) Britain, Ireland and the Italian Risorgimento, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Carter, N., et al. (2013). ‘The Economy of Liberal Italy: A roundtable discussion of Stefano Fenoaltea's The Reinterpretation of Italian Economic History', in Modern Italy, vol.18, no.1, 81-94.
• Carter, N. (2012). ‘Sir James Hudson nella diplomazia inglese nella seconda meta dell'Ottocento’, in E. Greppi and E. Pagella (eds.), Sir James Hudson nel Risorgimento italiano, Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino, pp. 131-158.
• Carter, N. (2011). ‘Rethinking the Italian Liberal State’, in Bulletin of Italian Politics, vol. 3, no. 2, 225-245.
• Carter, N. (2010). Modern Italy in Historical Perspective, London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Projects

• 2020-2023: Australian Research Council, Linkage Project LP180101048. Project title: ‘Conviction Politics: The Convict Routes of Australian Democracy. $757,205.

Accolades and awards

• Joint winner of the Christopher Seton-Watson Memorial Prize for the best article in Modern Italy, 2019.
• Australian Award for University Teaching (AAUT) ‘Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning’, Interdisciplinary Humanities Education Abroad [IHEA] team, 2018.
• ACU Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning, with D. Cook and C. Matthew, 2018.
• ACU Faculty of Education and Arts Learning Innovation Award, with D. Cook and C. Matthew, 2015.

Appointments and affiliations

• Higher Degree Coordinator, Faculty of Education and Arts, ACU, 2018-present.
• Director International, Faculty of Education and Arts, ACU, 2015-2018.
• Associate Professor, Modern History, ACU, 2013-present.
• Head of History, University of Wales Newport, 2011-2013.

Editorial roles

• Associate editor, Modern Italy (Cambridge University Press), Feb 2022-present.
• Reviews editor, Modern Italy (Routledge), 2011-2015.
• Executive Member, Association for the Study of Modern Italy (ASMI), 2011-2015.

International journal review panel

• Journal Reviewer (select):
• Modern Italy
• Journal of Modern Italian Studies
• Fascism
• Women’s History Review
• Journal of Religious History

Grant agency review panel

Australian Research Council (ARC) Peer Reviewer

Public engagement

Nick has been interviewed in connection to his research on television and radio, including:

• Seven Sunrise
• Eastside FM Radio (Sydney)
• ABC news
• ABC radio (James Valentine show)

Nick’s work has also been featured in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.