Crafty Commemoration: Vernacular responses to the Centenary of World War One

Abstract

This thesis investigates how Anzac narratives are interpreted and integrated into contemporary understandings of Australian national heritage and collective remembering through craft. The Anzac Centenary commemorative efforts have been positioned as a focal point of national significance for Australia in the period 2014-2018, and encompass the keystone centenary of the Anzac troops landing at Gallipoli in 1915. Social narratives on the Centenary have tended to be institutionally controlled and homogeneous, and commemorative activities have been tied closely to the traditional spheres of commemoration, such as services and marches. This thesis focuses attention on vernacular, individual-level acts of Anzac commemoration that took place outside of these contexts to understand how everyday Australians were moved by and respond to the call to remember the Anzac Centenary.

Grounded in a material and cultural studies approach, I critically examine the milieu of production of Anzac-themed arts and crafts artefacts created specifically for rural agricultural shows and arts and craft displays. Interviews with 34 creative artists, readings of created Anzac cultural artefacts (entries or displays), and consideration of the display sites themselves were all analysed to draw attention to the inherent purposes, meanings and assumptions of the Anzac narrative operating in these contexts. My analysis unmasks the 'cultural work' that is undertaken through commemoration in non-traditional locations. Firstly, I found that crafty commemoration is a meaningful endeavour, achieved through identity affirmation around family or craft practice, and building a sense of belong to community and nation. Secondly, crafty commemorations reproduce and reinforce traditional imagery and emotional frameworks associated with Anzac that in turn support a crafty commemoration as a palatable, accessible and non-threatening form of commemoration. Finally, I found that the contexts of production and display of crafty commemoration may frequently be banal, which contributes to the normalisation of Anzac narrative as a widely accepted element of social life. Overall, I argue that the process and creative interpretations of Anzac do not necessarily constitute active dissent or rejection of the nationalist discourse; rather, they increase the spaces into which the Anzac discourse permeates, further solidifying its place in the national consciousness.