Re: Gallipoli

Posted by Mike McDermott on Apr 25, 2012; 2:17am
URL: http://sundownersadventures.385.s1.nabble.com/Gallipoli-tp5663673p5663717.html

I just Googled to try to see if anyone had tried to answer that question. At http://www.slccs.uq.edu.au/PDF/school%20events/OzAbroad_Abstracts2011.pdf
Professor James McKay has an abstract of a paper called "Performing Gallipoli". In it he states:

"On one hand, burgeoning tourism has allegedly turned Gallipoli into a theme park, rock concert and drunken party, been implicated in the militarisation of Australian culture, promoted louche nationalism and generated shallow emotional experiences via staged-managed excursions. On the other hand, Gallipoli also is a place where even ‘accidental’ Australian tourists can have meaningful spiritual experiences, empathise with Turkish people and develop cosmopolitan national identities."

I honestly don't recall any drunken parties in the many times I went there. Sure we had the odd Efes or raki, and we had lots of drunken parties on the way, but it just didn't seem the right place for that to anyone in those days.