TY - JOUR
T1 - National identities and war heritage: acceptance and resistance of an authorised heritage discourse among visitors to the Australian War Memorial
AU - Roppola, Tiina
AU - Uzzell, David
AU - Packer, Jan
AU - Ballantyne, Roy
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects funding scheme (project DP130101258). The views expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Australian Government or Australian Research Council. We would like to thank the Australian War Memorial and the visitors who generously gave their time to participate in this research.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Tiina Roppola, David Uzzell, Jan Packer and Roy Ballantyne.
PY - 2021/4/3
Y1 - 2021/4/3
N2 - This paper examines the convergence of national identities and war heritage, among first-, second- and third-plus-generation Australians. In Australia, interpretation of a First World War event, the Anzac story, is promoted as war heritage central to national identity. What meaning might this discourse have in today’s multicultural Australia? Qualitative interviews were conducted with 93 adult visitors to the Australian War Memorial, 37 of whom had recent migrant backgrounds from 20 countries of origin. The analysis applied ‘authorised heritage discourse’ (AHD) as a theoretical framework. Visitors displayed three different orientations to an AHD that merged war heritage with national identity. The dominant group positively aligned with the war heritage/national identity AHD. In this group, national identity is reinforced by those qualities typically ascribed as being forged out of the ANZAC’s experience. Those consciously aligned critique the mythological status of the Anzac legacy yet embrace it as important for national identities. Those resisting the war heritage/national identity AHD disrupt the often-assumed links between history, heritage and identities. These three orientations appear to be independent of the participants’ country of birth or cultural background, showing the constructed nature of heritage and fluidity of national identities.
AB - This paper examines the convergence of national identities and war heritage, among first-, second- and third-plus-generation Australians. In Australia, interpretation of a First World War event, the Anzac story, is promoted as war heritage central to national identity. What meaning might this discourse have in today’s multicultural Australia? Qualitative interviews were conducted with 93 adult visitors to the Australian War Memorial, 37 of whom had recent migrant backgrounds from 20 countries of origin. The analysis applied ‘authorised heritage discourse’ (AHD) as a theoretical framework. Visitors displayed three different orientations to an AHD that merged war heritage with national identity. The dominant group positively aligned with the war heritage/national identity AHD. In this group, national identity is reinforced by those qualities typically ascribed as being forged out of the ANZAC’s experience. Those consciously aligned critique the mythological status of the Anzac legacy yet embrace it as important for national identities. Those resisting the war heritage/national identity AHD disrupt the often-assumed links between history, heritage and identities. These three orientations appear to be independent of the participants’ country of birth or cultural background, showing the constructed nature of heritage and fluidity of national identities.
KW - Authorised heritage discourse
KW - national identity
KW - war heritage
KW - Anzac
KW - multicultural inclusion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088386445&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13527258.2020.1798270
DO - 10.1080/13527258.2020.1798270
M3 - Article
SN - 1352-7258
VL - 27
SP - 375
EP - 390
JO - International Journal of Heritage Studies
JF - International Journal of Heritage Studies
IS - 4
ER -