University of Technology, Sydney. / The reenactment of the past itself has a history. This thesis analyses self-styled 'historical reenactors' in the West and traces the history of the broader phenomenon of historical reenactment in the Australian context from the late nineteenth century to the present. The historical section focuses on several events significant in Australian cultural memory that have been reenacted over time. Historical parades, pageants and reenactments dramatically narrate culturally specific historical sensibilities and demonstrate inter and cross cultural exchanges of historical consciousness. I contend such performances have had a significant position in the formation of popular history since the late nineteenth century and that there is a continuity of conventions in performing the past. I have addressed the position of reenactments as part of a constant interest in the status and power of history in, and for, popular culture. I have shown how a form of history that operated for the public was transformed into a form of history operated by the public in a struggle for authority over the form and content of history. Historical reenactments have been useful avenues for elites to create didactic spectacular history that have also offered the opportunity for marginalised groups to make social and political gains through their participation in the making of public history. Considering the significance of reenactments in the formation of a distinctly Australian public history, they have received little attention from historians. As ephemera, reenactments sit awkwardly in the explanatory frameworks regularly used by historians. Using methodologies from a range of academic disciplines such as performance studies, anthropology and cultural studies, this thesis documents and interrogates the specific form of historical reenactment. In the sections of this thesis that analyse contemporary historical reenactments, I use my own experience as an historical reenactor of more than ten years in an ethnographic approach that reflects on the pleasures, promises and problems 'dressing up as if from the past' offers. In this history I draw continuities between past reenactments and present practices that assist in understanding historical reenactment as a specific cultural form. This thesis contends that reenactments over time have been characterised by three main elements: a collapsing of past and present, an avenue for a 'connectedness' with the past through a sensual experience, and an essential relationship with I authenticity.'

University of Technology, Sydney. / The reenactment of the past itself has a history. This thesis analyses self-styled 'historical reenactors' in the West and traces the history of the broader phenomenon of historical reenactment in the Australian context from the late nineteenth century to the present. The historical section focuses on several events significant in Australian cultural memory that have been reenacted over time. Historical parades, pageants and reenactments dramatically narrate culturally specific historical sensibilities and demonstrate inter and cross cultural exchanges of historical consciousness. I contend such performances have had a significant position in the formation of popular history since the late nineteenth century and that there is a continuity of conventions in performing the past. I have addressed the position of reenactments as part of a constant interest in the status and power of history in, and for, popular culture. I have shown how a form of history that operated for the public was transformed into a form of history operated by the public in a struggle for authority over the form and content of history. Historical reenactments have been useful avenues for elites to create didactic spectacular history that have also offered the opportunity for marginalised groups to make social and political gains through their participation in the making of public history. Considering the significance of reenactments in the formation of a distinctly Australian public history, they have received little attention from historians. As ephemera, reenactments sit awkwardly in the explanatory frameworks regularly used by historians. Using methodologies from a range of academic disciplines such as performance studies, anthropology and cultural studies, this thesis documents and interrogates the specific form of historical reenactment. In the sections of this thesis that analyse contemporary historical reenactments, I use my own experience as an historical reenactor of more than ten years in an ethnographic approach that reflects on the pleasures, promises and problems 'dressing up as if from the past' offers. In this history I draw continuities between past reenactments and present practices that assist in understanding historical reenactment as a specific cultural form. This thesis contends that reenactments over time have been characterised by three main elements: a collapsing of past and present, an avenue for a 'connectedness' with the past through a sensual experience, and an essential relationship with I authenticity.'

This dissertation is a study of Leningrad during World War II and the period of postwar restoration (1941-1950). Leningrad was besieged by the Germans for nearly nine-hundred days. As hundreds of thousands of people died from bombings, shelling, cold, and starvation, local authorities surprisingly instituted measures to ensure that the city’s historic monuments be safeguarded from destruction. When Leningrad was liberated in January 1944, a concerted effort was put into place to breath life into these damaged and destroyed monuments and to heal the wounds inflicted on the city. Instead of using the damage to modernize the city, Leningrad and Soviet authorities opted to privilege the country’s tsarist heritage. In the postwar period, municipal authorities proclaimed that restored monuments commemorate the determination and heroism shown by the people of Leningrad during the war. The memory of the blockade, it was argued, was a “red thread” that must run through and be inscribed in all restoration works. Although this dissertation is a local study of war and postwar restoration, it speaks to broader trends within the Soviet Union before, during, and after World War II. I argue that the care shown for Leningrad’s imperial monuments was the result of an ideological shift that began in the mid-1930s away from iconoclasm toward rehabilitating and respecting certain events and characters from the past. With international tensions rising in the 1930s, this turn to the past acted as a unifying force that had a tremendous influence on the patriotism shown during the war with the Nazis. In the postwar period, as the Soviet state began to redefine its image based on the myth of war and the country’s tsarist heritage, this patriotism was further promoted, resulting in a flurry of work throughout the Soviet Union to restore the vessels of the country’s past. Like many other modernizing states, the Soviet Union looked to its past to create a united and patriotic citizenry.

This dissertation is a study of Leningrad during World War II and the period of postwar restoration (1941-1950). Leningrad was besieged by the Germans for nearly nine-hundred days. As hundreds of thousands of people died from bombings, shelling, cold, and starvation, local authorities surprisingly instituted measures to ensure that the city’s historic monuments be safeguarded from destruction. When Leningrad was liberated in January 1944, a concerted effort was put into place to breath life into these damaged and destroyed monuments and to heal the wounds inflicted on the city. Instead of using the damage to modernize the city, Leningrad and Soviet authorities opted to privilege the country’s tsarist heritage. In the postwar period, municipal authorities proclaimed that restored monuments commemorate the determination and heroism shown by the people of Leningrad during the war. The memory of the blockade, it was argued, was a “red thread” that must run through and be inscribed in all restoration works. Although this dissertation is a local study of war and postwar restoration, it speaks to broader trends within the Soviet Union before, during, and after World War II. I argue that the care shown for Leningrad’s imperial monuments was the result of an ideological shift that began in the mid-1930s away from iconoclasm toward rehabilitating and respecting certain events and characters from the past. With international tensions rising in the 1930s, this turn to the past acted as a unifying force that had a tremendous influence on the patriotism shown during the war with the Nazis. In the postwar period, as the Soviet state began to redefine its image based on the myth of war and the country’s tsarist heritage, this patriotism was further promoted, resulting in a flurry of work throughout the Soviet Union to restore the vessels of the country’s past. Like many other modernizing states, the Soviet Union looked to its past to create a united and patriotic citizenry.

Submitted by Daniella Santos (daniella.santos@ufma.br) on 2017-11-16T19:44:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 WENDELLSOUSA.pdf: 8569182 bytes, checksum: 7cdcf5f40908229bc52a14855b3b3252 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-11-16T19:44:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 WENDELLSOUSA.pdf: 8569182 bytes, checksum: 7cdcf5f40908229bc52a14855b3b3252 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-11-30 / The present work has as an objective an analysis of the commemorations of the III Centenary of foundation of Saint Louis by the French as policies of memory. Following the indications of the celebrations of 1912, we perceive a conception of a city, where time and space are in harmony with each other, organize ideas and images about the city and, consequently, those who inhabit it. The sentimentalist contract instituted by these rituals, between the practices of incorporation and inscription (repertoire and archive); Constitutes an important laboratory for the problematization of the past, that is, how it was perceived, reconstructed, invented, forgotten and erased. Thus, one understands the selective character of these past evocations by revealing the rite as a symbolic product of social communion, but as a symbolic practice organized by groups and institutions, whose product would be the result of the articulation between present and past. In this sense, my thesis is the celebrations of the tricentennial was a socio-symbolic investment in images of the city that were close to the republican ideology of the political center of the country. Therefore, the investigation of the context of these evocations having the First Republic as a background was of paramount importance for the understanding of ritualizations. However, for the understanding of the celebrations of 1912 we invested an analysis about the principal civic rituals of the capital and its relation with time and space. A period where the conceptions of city, time and Republic begin to interfere in the civic repertoire: characters, dates and plot. A time in transfiguration, especially through the memory policies of the Luiz Domingues government. / O presente trabalho tem como objetivo uma análise das comemorações do III Centenário de fundação de São Luís pelos franceses enquanto políticas de memória. Seguindo os indícios das celebrações de 1912, percebemos uma concepção de cidade onde tempo e espaço coadunados, agenciam ideias-imagens acerca da urbe e, consequentemente, daqueles que a habitam. O contrato sentimentalista instituído por esses rituais, entre as práticas de incorporação e inscrição (repertório e arquivo); constitui-se como um importante laboratório para a problematização do passado, ou seja, de como ele foi percebido, reconstruído, inventado, esquecido e apagado. Sendo assim, compreende-se o caráter seletivo dessas evocações pretéritas descortinando o rito como um produto simbólico de comunhão social, mas como uma prática simbólica agenciada por grupos e instituições, cujo produto seria o resultado da articulação entre presente e passado. Nesse sentido, a minha hipótese é que as comemorações do tricentenário foi um investimento sócio-simbólico em imagens da urbe que estiveram próximas à ideologia republicana do centro político do país. Portanto, a investigação do contexto dessas evocações tendo a Primeira República como pano de fundo foi de suma importância para a compreensão das ritualizações. Contudo, para o entendimento das celebrações de 1912 investimos uma análise acerca dos principais rituais cívicos da capital e sua relação com o tempo e espaço. Um período em que as concepções de cidade, tempo e República passam a interferir no repertório cívico: personagens, datas e enredo. Um tempo em transfiguração, sobretudo através das políticas de memória do governo Luiz Domingues.

Dans la représentation collective, les monuments aux morts sont construits au lendemain de la Grande Guerre pour supporter les mémoires des victimes du conflit. Pour beaucoup ils constituent aussi une partie du patrimoine communal. Pourtant, cette définition est réductrice et n'englobe pas la réalité de cet objet mémoriel. Sa genèse est à discuter et la multiplicité de ses formes sont à prendre en compte pour comprendre ses fonctions anciennes et actuelles. Ce travail insiste sur l'évolution de ces constructions en un siècle. Il ne se conçoit pas uniquement le cadre de la commune puisque les paroisses et des groupements privés sont également à l'origine d'édifices. De nombreux conflits sont à l'origine de nouveaux édifices ou de modifications sur d'anciennes constructions. Les deux guerres mondiales ne sont pas les seules à générer une mémoire matérialisée par ces monuments et les guerres liées aux décolonisations ou encore les OPEX sont désormais à prendre en considération.Depuis la Grande Guerre, un monument aux morts est l'expression d'un hommage envers ceux qui ont combattu pour la France et qui en sont morts, quelque soit la période et le lieu concernés. Il convenait donc d'en savoir davantage sur les conditions de décès au cours des guerres, ainsi que la manière dont les défunts et les endeuillés sont gérés. Les questions matérielles et organisationnelles de la construction sont aussi à analyser pour mieux comprendre la diversité des résultats obtenus. Enfin l'étude des inaugurations puis des commémorations permettent d'appréhender les utilisations successives de ces monuments. Il convenait d'analyser ces points en fonction des conflits concernés pour dresser le bilan sur un siècle d'évolution et d'adaptation d'un objet de célébration et de commémoration de la mort collective au combat. / In the collective representation, war memorials have been built after the Great War to support the memories of the victims of both world wars. For many they are also a part of the city heritage. However, this definition is simplistic and does not include the reality of this object. Its genesis is to discuss and the multiplicity of its forms is to be considered to understand its past and current functions. This work emphasizes the evolution of these structures over a century. It does not only perceive the framework of the city since parishes and private groups are also behind buildings. Old memorials have been altered and new ones have been built so as to include several new conflicts. The two World Wars are not the only ones to generate a memory embodied by these objects and wars related to decolonization or External Operations are now to be taken into consideration.Since the Great War, a war memorial has been an expression of tribute to those who fought for France and who died of it, whatever the period. It was therefore appropriate to inquire about the conditions of death in war, and how the deceased and its close relations in mourning are taken care of. The material and organisational issues of the construction are also analyzed to better understand the diversity of results. Finally the study of inaugurations and commemorations allows to understand the successive uses of these monuments. These points based on the involved conflicts had to be analysed in order to evaluate an object of celebration and commemoration of collective death in battle over one century of evolution and adaptation.

“Comemorar efemérides” não é apenas uma expressão legítima utilizada para fazer referência à celebração de uma festa nacional. Desde o final do século XIX, ao menos em língua portuguesa, os dois termos têm sido associados como sinônimos. A presente tese representa um esforço em compreender o desenvolvimento de dois conceitos – comemorações e efemérides – na longa duração. Os encontros e desvios entre as práticas associadas a um e a outro serão pontuados através da seleção de episódios intelectuais, seguidos pelo exame de debates que os tocavam na periferia de suas articulações. Na primeira parte, dedicada às comemorações, montei uma revisão desse bem conhecido tópico de estudos endereçada a uma única hipótese, a saber: o “ofício” comemorativo pode ser entendido como uma forma de comunicação e transmissão geracional de valores. Inspirado pelas fontes, argumento que os eventuais pontos de encontro entre o par de objetos propostos nesta tese são análogos às interrelações entre a “ordem do tempo” e a “ordem da natureza”, entre o tempo dos homens e o movimento das estrelas. Neste drama conceitual, se pudermos assim chamá-lo, faríamos perceber como a superação dos antigos modelos cosmológicos não se esquivou em guardar, para assumir termo caro a Pomian, uma lógica cronosófica. Se eu for bem sucedido, esse argumento deverá se expressar na segunda parte. As efemérides, como tábuas do movimento dos corpos celestes, vieram sofrer uma lenta transição rumo ao registro dos feitos humanos. Bebendo em fontes antigas e nas práticas de emulação, personagens bem conhecidos da primeira modernidade associaram o termo primeiro aos diários pessoais, depois ao jornalismo e, nos séculos seguintes, à história literária, religiosa e política. Na França, as éphémérides emergem da revolução já como um subgênero historiográfico. No Brasil da segunda metade do século XIX, listas de efemérides encontram lugar comum junto às comemorações dentro dos debates do IHGB. É no horizonte do projeto de nação que busco observar a união dos paralelos. Esse horizonte – como um ponto de chegada – vai aparecer ao final de cada secção da tese, observado a partir da celebração do quadricentenário da descoberta de Cabral. / “Comemorar efemérides” is a Portuguese phrase that despite its academic ring, is often used in the mainstream press. It translates roughly as 'the commemoration of an auspicious occasion’ and is used in reference to the public marking of nationally significant events. By the end of the nineteenth century, the two terms of this phrase came to be synonymous in Portuguese. This thesis represents an effort to understand the development of these two terms – efemérides and comemorações – over the longue durée. The long-term similarities in the practical and public uses of these terms are explored by tracing their discursive deployments and examining the debates that surrounded such public uses. The first section, dedicated to commemorations, frames the analysis of this much discussed topic with the following hypothesis: the act of commemoration is a form of moral utterance between generations; it is the rehearsal and transmission of collective values. Drawing on historical sources, I argue that the eventual points of contact between these terms can be seen as analogs to the discursive exchange and conflict between the classical and peripatetic notions of the “order of time” and the “order of nature”. In this conceptual drama, one sees how the sublation of old cosmological perspectives nevertheless still contains what I shall call – following Pomian – a chronosophy. This analysis leads to the second part of the thesis. Efemérides, originally tables of the movements of the celestial bodies – also known as almanacs – underwent a slow transition from the celestial to the earthly, from the charting of the stars to the recording of human deeds. Drawing on classical texts, well-informed readers of early modernity would have associated those writings in the first instance with diaries, then with journalism and, in the following centuries, with political history. Emerging from the French Revolution as a historiographical subgenre, lists of Efemérides shared a common function with commemorations as nation-building practices that described the horizon of a project to create national identity. This horizon, as a meeting point of moral utterance and political project is explored at the end of both sections of the thesis, as it is observed in the quadricentenial celebration of Cabral’s Discovery of Brazil. It is at this horizon that the parallel developments of comemorações and efemérides promise to meet.

“Comemorar efemérides” não é apenas uma expressão legítima utilizada para fazer referência à celebração de uma festa nacional. Desde o final do século XIX, ao menos em língua portuguesa, os dois termos têm sido associados como sinônimos. A presente tese representa um esforço em compreender o desenvolvimento de dois conceitos – comemorações e efemérides – na longa duração. Os encontros e desvios entre as práticas associadas a um e a outro serão pontuados através da seleção de episódios intelectuais, seguidos pelo exame de debates que os tocavam na periferia de suas articulações. Na primeira parte, dedicada às comemorações, montei uma revisão desse bem conhecido tópico de estudos endereçada a uma única hipótese, a saber: o “ofício” comemorativo pode ser entendido como uma forma de comunicação e transmissão geracional de valores. Inspirado pelas fontes, argumento que os eventuais pontos de encontro entre o par de objetos propostos nesta tese são análogos às interrelações entre a “ordem do tempo” e a “ordem da natureza”, entre o tempo dos homens e o movimento das estrelas. Neste drama conceitual, se pudermos assim chamá-lo, faríamos perceber como a superação dos antigos modelos cosmológicos não se esquivou em guardar, para assumir termo caro a Pomian, uma lógica cronosófica. Se eu for bem sucedido, esse argumento deverá se expressar na segunda parte. As efemérides, como tábuas do movimento dos corpos celestes, vieram sofrer uma lenta transição rumo ao registro dos feitos humanos. Bebendo em fontes antigas e nas práticas de emulação, personagens bem conhecidos da primeira modernidade associaram o termo primeiro aos diários pessoais, depois ao jornalismo e, nos séculos seguintes, à história literária, religiosa e política. Na França, as éphémérides emergem da revolução já como um subgênero historiográfico. No Brasil da segunda metade do século XIX, listas de efemérides encontram lugar comum junto às comemorações dentro dos debates do IHGB. É no horizonte do projeto de nação que busco observar a união dos paralelos. Esse horizonte – como um ponto de chegada – vai aparecer ao final de cada secção da tese, observado a partir da celebração do quadricentenário da descoberta de Cabral. / “Comemorar efemérides” is a Portuguese phrase that despite its academic ring, is often used in the mainstream press. It translates roughly as 'the commemoration of an auspicious occasion’ and is used in reference to the public marking of nationally significant events. By the end of the nineteenth century, the two terms of this phrase came to be synonymous in Portuguese. This thesis represents an effort to understand the development of these two terms – efemérides and comemorações – over the longue durée. The long-term similarities in the practical and public uses of these terms are explored by tracing their discursive deployments and examining the debates that surrounded such public uses. The first section, dedicated to commemorations, frames the analysis of this much discussed topic with the following hypothesis: the act of commemoration is a form of moral utterance between generations; it is the rehearsal and transmission of collective values. Drawing on historical sources, I argue that the eventual points of contact between these terms can be seen as analogs to the discursive exchange and conflict between the classical and peripatetic notions of the “order of time” and the “order of nature”. In this conceptual drama, one sees how the sublation of old cosmological perspectives nevertheless still contains what I shall call – following Pomian – a chronosophy. This analysis leads to the second part of the thesis. Efemérides, originally tables of the movements of the celestial bodies – also known as almanacs – underwent a slow transition from the celestial to the earthly, from the charting of the stars to the recording of human deeds. Drawing on classical texts, well-informed readers of early modernity would have associated those writings in the first instance with diaries, then with journalism and, in the following centuries, with political history. Emerging from the French Revolution as a historiographical subgenre, lists of Efemérides shared a common function with commemorations as nation-building practices that described the horizon of a project to create national identity. This horizon, as a meeting point of moral utterance and political project is explored at the end of both sections of the thesis, as it is observed in the quadricentenial celebration of Cabral’s Discovery of Brazil. It is at this horizon that the parallel developments of comemorações and efemérides promise to meet.

“Comemorar efemérides” não é apenas uma expressão legítima utilizada para fazer referência à celebração de uma festa nacional. Desde o final do século XIX, ao menos em língua portuguesa, os dois termos têm sido associados como sinônimos. A presente tese representa um esforço em compreender o desenvolvimento de dois conceitos – comemorações e efemérides – na longa duração. Os encontros e desvios entre as práticas associadas a um e a outro serão pontuados através da seleção de episódios intelectuais, seguidos pelo exame de debates que os tocavam na periferia de suas articulações. Na primeira parte, dedicada às comemorações, montei uma revisão desse bem conhecido tópico de estudos endereçada a uma única hipótese, a saber: o “ofício” comemorativo pode ser entendido como uma forma de comunicação e transmissão geracional de valores. Inspirado pelas fontes, argumento que os eventuais pontos de encontro entre o par de objetos propostos nesta tese são análogos às interrelações entre a “ordem do tempo” e a “ordem da natureza”, entre o tempo dos homens e o movimento das estrelas. Neste drama conceitual, se pudermos assim chamá-lo, faríamos perceber como a superação dos antigos modelos cosmológicos não se esquivou em guardar, para assumir termo caro a Pomian, uma lógica cronosófica. Se eu for bem sucedido, esse argumento deverá se expressar na segunda parte. As efemérides, como tábuas do movimento dos corpos celestes, vieram sofrer uma lenta transição rumo ao registro dos feitos humanos. Bebendo em fontes antigas e nas práticas de emulação, personagens bem conhecidos da primeira modernidade associaram o termo primeiro aos diários pessoais, depois ao jornalismo e, nos séculos seguintes, à história literária, religiosa e política. Na França, as éphémérides emergem da revolução já como um subgênero historiográfico. No Brasil da segunda metade do século XIX, listas de efemérides encontram lugar comum junto às comemorações dentro dos debates do IHGB. É no horizonte do projeto de nação que busco observar a união dos paralelos. Esse horizonte – como um ponto de chegada – vai aparecer ao final de cada secção da tese, observado a partir da celebração do quadricentenário da descoberta de Cabral. / “Comemorar efemérides” is a Portuguese phrase that despite its academic ring, is often used in the mainstream press. It translates roughly as 'the commemoration of an auspicious occasion’ and is used in reference to the public marking of nationally significant events. By the end of the nineteenth century, the two terms of this phrase came to be synonymous in Portuguese. This thesis represents an effort to understand the development of these two terms – efemérides and comemorações – over the longue durée. The long-term similarities in the practical and public uses of these terms are explored by tracing their discursive deployments and examining the debates that surrounded such public uses. The first section, dedicated to commemorations, frames the analysis of this much discussed topic with the following hypothesis: the act of commemoration is a form of moral utterance between generations; it is the rehearsal and transmission of collective values. Drawing on historical sources, I argue that the eventual points of contact between these terms can be seen as analogs to the discursive exchange and conflict between the classical and peripatetic notions of the “order of time” and the “order of nature”. In this conceptual drama, one sees how the sublation of old cosmological perspectives nevertheless still contains what I shall call – following Pomian – a chronosophy. This analysis leads to the second part of the thesis. Efemérides, originally tables of the movements of the celestial bodies – also known as almanacs – underwent a slow transition from the celestial to the earthly, from the charting of the stars to the recording of human deeds. Drawing on classical texts, well-informed readers of early modernity would have associated those writings in the first instance with diaries, then with journalism and, in the following centuries, with political history. Emerging from the French Revolution as a historiographical subgenre, lists of Efemérides shared a common function with commemorations as nation-building practices that described the horizon of a project to create national identity. This horizon, as a meeting point of moral utterance and political project is explored at the end of both sections of the thesis, as it is observed in the quadricentenial celebration of Cabral’s Discovery of Brazil. It is at this horizon that the parallel developments of comemorações and efemérides promise to meet.

Cette thèse examine le processus de construction, de projection et de performance d’un aspect de l’identité nationale australienne – l’Anzac et son rôle central dans le récit national – par le prisme de la mémorialisation de guerre à Villers-Bretonneux. Elle se penche sur les liens tangibles entre cette commune et l’Australie – en incluant, parmi d’autres dispositifs commémoratifs, l’Ecole Victoria, le mémorial national australien, le musée franco-australien, l’association franco-australienne et la commémoration de l’Anzac Day – et ce que ces liens révèlent à propos de la nature des pratiques commémoratives australiennes. Cette thèse met en lumière que la commune de Villers-Bretonneux a été utilisée comme une scène sur laquelle des versions changeantes du récit national australien ont été assemblées et mises en scène. A Villers, la réécriture de ce récit a été constante, en organisant le passé pour se définir, individuellement et collectivement, dans le présent. Par ailleurs, ce processus actif d’élaboration d’identité nationale australienne par le biais de la mémorialisation de guerre relègue souvent les soldats morts commémorés au second plan pour servir les intérêts présents de ceux qui les commémorent. Villers-Bretonneux est une commune inconnue de la grande majorité des Français. Pourtant, c’est au travers des commémorations de guerre dans cette commune d’un peu plus de 4,000 habitants que l’Australie a construit et nourri son interprétation de l’hommage des Français aux soldats australiens de la Première Guerre mondiale. Cette thèse met en lumière cet aspect essentiel qu’est l’altérité dans la validation d’images nationales par l’étude de l’importance que l’Australie a accordée à la validation française perçue de son récit national. / This thesis examines the process of assembly, projecting and performing an aspect of Australian national identity – Anzac and its central role in the national narrative – through the prism of war memorialisation at Villers-Bretonneux. It scrutinises the tangible ties between this town and Australia – including, amongst other forms of commemoration and commemorative devices, Victoria School, the Australian National Memorial, the French-Australian Museum, the French-Australian Association, and the commemoration of Anzac Day – and what these links reveal about the nature of Australian commemorative practices. The thesis argues that this village has been utilised as a stage upon which to engineer and perform changing representations of Australia’s national narrative. At Villers-Bretonneux there has been a constant rewriting of this narrative, managing the past to define oneself – collectively and individually – in the present. This active process of the development of the Australian national narrative through war memorialisation often relegates the commemorated dead soldiers to the background and serves, in their place, the present interests of those who commemorate. Villers-Bretonneux is a town unknown to the vast majority of French people and one to which even fewer ever travel. Yet, it is upon Australian war commemorations in this town of a little over 4,000 inhabitants that Australia has constructed its reportage of the French homage to Australian soldiers of the First World War and Australia. The thesis exposes this essential element of otherness in validating national images through an examination of the insistence on the perceived validation offered by the French.