Forgetting the wars: Australian war memorials and amnesia

While recent studies have revealed that the rate of memorials appears to be increasing in tandem with the memory boom, this chapter examines the role of forgetfulness in Australian war memorials—notably, the manner in which memorials, and their designs, are active participants in the role of forgett...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Stephens, John
Other Authors: Bobbie Oliver
Format: Book Chapter
Published: Black Swan Press 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41047
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author Stephens, John
author2 Bobbie Oliver
author_facet Bobbie Oliver
Stephens, John
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description While recent studies have revealed that the rate of memorials appears to be increasing in tandem with the memory boom, this chapter examines the role of forgetfulness in Australian war memorials—notably, the manner in which memorials, and their designs, are active participants in the role of forgetting and in ‘masking’ aspects of war and war memory. Traditional figurative memorials portray the digger as the ideal figure of the classical hero or a type of noble innocent and, in doing so, they preserve mythologies while masking the slaughter of the battlefield and the effects and cost of war to participants and survivors. It is the complex and fluid nature of remembrance and forgetting that is at the heart of this chapter.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-410472023-02-27T07:34:25Z Forgetting the wars: Australian war memorials and amnesia Stephens, John Bobbie Oliver Sue Summers amnesia Australia war memorials Forgetfulness While recent studies have revealed that the rate of memorials appears to be increasing in tandem with the memory boom, this chapter examines the role of forgetfulness in Australian war memorials—notably, the manner in which memorials, and their designs, are active participants in the role of forgetting and in ‘masking’ aspects of war and war memory. Traditional figurative memorials portray the digger as the ideal figure of the classical hero or a type of noble innocent and, in doing so, they preserve mythologies while masking the slaughter of the battlefield and the effects and cost of war to participants and survivors. It is the complex and fluid nature of remembrance and forgetting that is at the heart of this chapter. 2014 Book Chapter http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41047 Black Swan Press fulltext
spellingShingle amnesia
Australia war memorials
Forgetfulness
Stephens, John
Forgetting the wars: Australian war memorials and amnesia
title Forgetting the wars: Australian war memorials and amnesia
title_full Forgetting the wars: Australian war memorials and amnesia
title_fullStr Forgetting the wars: Australian war memorials and amnesia
title_full_unstemmed Forgetting the wars: Australian war memorials and amnesia
title_short Forgetting the wars: Australian war memorials and amnesia
title_sort forgetting the wars: australian war memorials and amnesia
topic amnesia
Australia war memorials
Forgetfulness
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41047