Encounters with Anzac in a Digital World: Tropes and Symbols, Spectacle and Staging

In this chapter, we examine Anzac tropes and symbols and consider their relations to Anzac events through, across and within a digital world. We explain what it means to ‘think-with’ Anzac and unveil a range of different encounters with it by our research participants. We explore how Anzac conjures feelings of collectivity, connecting people to each other and to the nation. Homing in on its affective and sensory dimensions, we close the chapter with a consideration of Anzac as a commemorative spectacle. We discuss how digital technologies are used to record commemorative events, and how Anzac is encountered through the screen. Both make clear the myriad ways through which a digital world shapes our engagement with, and understandings of, the symbols and stories of Anzac.