Abstract
The article 318 Wadham Nations includes illustrations by Amy Hamilton from a catalogue for an exhibition Camouflage: Unmasking Militarism by Ben Wadham and Amy Hamilton, held in Adelaide in May 2013. The catalogue extends many of the ideas in the article.
Presenting Gallipoli as the birth of a nation, the author believes, camouflages the failure of the campaign and the national divisions during World War I and gives neo-conservatives an ideological trope which ‘naturalises and distorts the national narrative when viewed from a vantage point where masculinity, whiteness and hegemony seem to line up in “a perfect chain of echoic meaning”’. This comes, however, at a time when the Australian Defence Force is trying to get away from traditional ideas of what it means to be a soldier.
Presenting Gallipoli as the birth of a nation, the author believes, camouflages the failure of the campaign and the national divisions during World War I and gives neo-conservatives an ideological trope which ‘naturalises and distorts the national narrative when viewed from a vantage point where masculinity, whiteness and hegemony seem to line up in “a perfect chain of echoic meaning”’. This comes, however, at a time when the Australian Defence Force is trying to get away from traditional ideas of what it means to be a soldier.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Specialist publication | Honest History |
| Publisher | Honest History |
| Publication status | Published - 22 May 2014 |
Keywords
- national identity
- Gallipoli
- Australian Defence Force