Dialogical Memorialization, International Travel and the Public Sphere: A Cultural Sociology of Commemoration and Tourism at the First World War Gallipoli Battlefields

Abstract

As part of a larger ethnographic research project, this article analyses the history of memorialization on the First World War Gallipoli battlefields and its relationship with international travel and tourism. It contrasts the original Australian and New Zealand memorialization on the site with Turkish memorials constructed there in the late 20th century, a significant proportion of which are characterized by direct symbolic recognition of the ‘other’. Drawing on Bakhtin’s writings on referential discourses I refer to these as being dialogical. At Gallipoli this dialogical memorialization facilitated the rise of Australian tourism to the battlefields by allowing for a cosmopolitan reimagining of the military campaign, which included emphasizing extraordinary cases of humanity and framing soldiers as tourists. A cultural sociology of the public sphere is proposed as a way of comprehending such tourism, one that avoids assumptions about the severing of meaningful cultural ties with the events and institutions of modernity.

Manifest destiny meets inclusion: Texas nationalism at the Alamo

“…A divisive warzone from World War I, Gallipoli, has been reconfigured to express common humanity through memorials created by Turkey as well as by Australia and New Zealand (West, 2010). Gallipoli's reconciliation efforts are exemplified by a prominent inscription, bearing the words of Turkey's former president:…”

Navigating contested memories in a commercialised setting: conflict avoidance strategies in Kyiv city tour guiding

“…Difficult heritage not only poses challenges for national identity narratives traditionally formed around positive rather than negative heritage (Macdonald 2015;Giesen 2004), but its representation can also be challenging because it is likely to be subject to particular sensitivities and controversy. Particularly the transnationalisation of memory -the phenomenon that memory-making increasingly exceeds national borders (Erll 2011) -can pose additional challenges as the conversation around how to interpret troubled pasts now also takes place at an international level between actors whose understanding of the past has been shaped by different national traditions of historiography (Huang and Lee 2019;West 2010).…”

The Role of Horror and Dread in the Sacred Experience

“…Located deep in Australia and New Zealand's national identity, the place of Gallipoli has in recent times garnered much interest not just from tourism studies but also from historians and other social scientists (Scates, 2006(Scates, , 2007West, 2008West, , 2010McKenna & Ward, 2007). This is no doubt due to the increasing rates of secular pilgrimage that the site currently attracts from both nations.…”

“…Yet as Cohen (2009: 195) suggests in his discussion into 'educational dark tourism', tourists who have a deeper connection to the site visited may well experience something more meaningful, a type of self-actualisation. Cohen's (2009) comments are reminiscent of recent discussions into the role of secular pilgrimage to sites of past battles such as Gallipoli (Slade 2003;West 2008West , 2010McKenna and Ward, 2007). In this particular World War One heritage spot, tourism is not just a liminal or ludic experience of postmodernity (West, 2010: 211) but rather embedded in a concern for 'nationhood' and patriotism that impacts greatly upon the self (Slade 2003: 792;see also Breathnach 2006).…”

“…In this particular First World War heritage spot, tourism is not just a liminal or ludic experience of postmodernity (West, 2010: 211), but rather embedded in a concern for 'nationhood' and patriotism that impacts greatly upon the self (Slade, 2003: 792; see also Breathnach, 2006). The motivation to tour 'dark' sites in this instance is argued as an attempt on the part of the individual to engage with places where collective identities were forged (West, 2010). In Durkheimian terms, a rejuvenation of secular pilgrimage to Gallipoli for instance is a form of re-enchantment, reuniting the individual to 'authentic' national roots.…”