Military Afghanistan Writers – on the Fringe. A Quantitative Look at Organizational Factors That Influence the Production of Soldiers’ Autobiographical Memoirs (original) (raw)

2019

Abstract

This article tested Victor Turner's contention that writers are often liminal people, on the fringes of their society, institution or group, by researching every military Afghanistan memoir (n=54) published between 2001 and 2010 in five countries (the US, the UK, Germany, Canada, and the Netherlands). Three possible military fringe groups were tested (inter-group: conscripts, reservists; intra-group: individually-deployed soldiers). Individually-deployed soldiers were shown statistically to be far more prone to writing than unit-deployed soldiers, providing support for the fringe writer hypothesis. They also exhibited more self-help writing motives than others. Outsiders may not only be in a better position to observe the group, but also have a greater need to express themselves, as the group doesn't (sufficiently) offer them that means of expression, precisely because of their outsider status.

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