Decolonizing the Gaze at Uluru (Ayers Rock) - Tourism and Visual Culture: Theories and Concepts - page 81

Acknowledgements willingness to suspend their Western perspective

on the land and to consider Aboriginal view-
points results from a complex interplay of real-
izations: their own vulnerability in the harsh
desert climate is experienced in stark contrast to
Aboriginal resilience and skilful survival for
thousands of years. In some of my interviewees,
this led to the realization of the local embedded-
ness and relevance of knowledge. Reclaiming
place at Uluru, Anangu's active politics of (non-)
representation overturn the conceptual absence
of the Other as it is prescribed by the Western
gaze. Rewriting it instead as the evocative pres-
ence of their living culture, Anangu's strong voice
asserts cultural integrity by defying the role of the
invariably silenced and invisible Other.

For their advice on the draft manuscript of this
article, I would like to thank Dr Michelle Duffy
and Dr Rachel Hughes, as well as Dr Jacqueline
Dutton and Dr Michael Cathcart at Melbourne
University. My fi eldwork in Central Australia in
November 2006 was supported by the University
of Melbourne's PhD programme. I would like to
thank Martin and Cheryl Ludgate for their advice
and hospitality as well as tour operators and
tourists in Alice Springs and at Ayers Rock
Resort, for their participation and contribution to
my research. Thanks to Anita Meyer, On-Tours,
Alice Springs, for making it possible for me to talk
to her tour groups and fi nally, Ben Van Vranken.

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