Memorialisation and memory as an ANZAC descendant: The Auckland war memorial cenotaph

Abstract

This thesis explores the concepts of emotion, embodiment, and place-based experience through encounters with the ceremonial and non-ceremonial World War One (WW1) memorial cenotaph. The thesis addresses a gap in the memorial studies literature by using the Auckland Domain WW1 Memorial Cenotaph as an empirical case study of how emotion and embodiment are experienced on ceremonial and non-ceremonial field visits. This gap in memorial studies extends to geographic inquiry where a general sensory poverty exists in terms of how everyday encounters with place impact processes of self- and group identification, belonging, and exclusion. The thesis uses a combination of narrative and visual autoethnography and participant interviews to construct a written account of how, as an ANZAC descendant and Anzac Day participant, I experienced place on ceremonial and non-ceremonial field visits to the cenotaph square. The findings show that autoethnography provides opportunities to develop new understandings of the emotional geographies of memorial landscapes. In writing an autoethnography, I recorded my thoughts, emotions, memories, and place-based experiences to attempt to address the sensory poverty in memorial studies and geographic inquiry, revealing the significance of mundane day-to-day encounters with place in understanding processes of belonging and exclusion overtime. The inclusion of three participant interviews added to my narrative account, extending my story to include the experiences of others. Participant interviews within narrative and visual autoethnography facilitated deeper reflection upon my positionality as an ANZAC descendant and Anzac Day commemorative participant, and how this implicated the research findings. I conclude that the combination of autoethnography and participant interviews serves to bring more reflective and emotionally engaged research approaches into memorial studies and to geographies of memorial landscapes.