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'It's not their job to soldier': distinguishing civilian and military in soldiers' and interpreters' accounts of peacekeeping in 1990s Bosnia-Herzegovina

'It's not their job to soldier': distinguishing civilian and military in soldiers' and interpreters' accounts of peacekeeping in 1990s Bosnia-Herzegovina
'It's not their job to soldier': distinguishing civilian and military in soldiers' and interpreters' accounts of peacekeeping in 1990s Bosnia-Herzegovina
Peacekeeping operations throw the use of specialized military forces and the aim of accomplishing change in a civilian environment into contradiction. Organizations with cultures that facilitate warfighting have to reorient themselves towards achieving peace and consent rather than victory, making peacekeeping a process of constant intercultural encounters between ‘military’ and ‘civilian’ as well as between ‘international’ and ‘local’. The force’s local employees, civilians necessary in the force’s military tasks, inhabited a particularly ambiguous position. Based on more than 30 oral history interviews with peacekeepers and local interpreters who worked in Bosnia-Herzegovina, this paper shows how four dimensions of cultural and bodily difference emerged from their narratives: uniforms, weapons, disruptiveness and training.
peacekeeping, military, civilian, bosnia-herzegovina
1752-6272
137-150
Baker, Catherine
50f848f3-f852-43ef-8bbc-a087313a779f
Baker, Catherine
50f848f3-f852-43ef-8bbc-a087313a779f

Baker, Catherine (2010) 'It's not their job to soldier': distinguishing civilian and military in soldiers' and interpreters' accounts of peacekeeping in 1990s Bosnia-Herzegovina. Journal of War and Culture Studies, 3 (1), 137-150. (doi:10.1386/jwcs.3.1.137_1).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Peacekeeping operations throw the use of specialized military forces and the aim of accomplishing change in a civilian environment into contradiction. Organizations with cultures that facilitate warfighting have to reorient themselves towards achieving peace and consent rather than victory, making peacekeeping a process of constant intercultural encounters between ‘military’ and ‘civilian’ as well as between ‘international’ and ‘local’. The force’s local employees, civilians necessary in the force’s military tasks, inhabited a particularly ambiguous position. Based on more than 30 oral history interviews with peacekeepers and local interpreters who worked in Bosnia-Herzegovina, this paper shows how four dimensions of cultural and bodily difference emerged from their narratives: uniforms, weapons, disruptiveness and training.

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Published date: June 2010
Keywords: peacekeeping, military, civilian, bosnia-herzegovina

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 141604
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/141604
ISSN: 1752-6272
PURE UUID: 09dc2235-83da-4707-940e-cea96755aa0d

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Date deposited: 30 Mar 2010 10:20
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 00:38

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Author: Catherine Baker

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