Who is the soldier and why does it matter who (s)he is? This course examines professional actors of war, and how these are formed and re-socialised through training and other forms for conditioning in the military institution. We examine how ability to repress civilian habits and to carry out violence is formed, as well as the extrinsic motivations for soldiering and soldiers’ ideas of sacrifice.
We examine civil-military relations in terms of cultural depictions of war and the idealised soldier, and how these depictions in the wider society impacts upon the individual soldiers self-perception and self-imagination.

The course examines the extent to which solders are tasked with roles that goes beyond traditional and conventional military ‘criteria’, such as self-defence, to include several facets of the peacebuilding, peacekeeping and peacemaking processes, in addition to combat requirements and how these roles fit with their identity.

Throughout, there will be a particular focus on research-based teaching. I will draw upon my own research on soldier identity with soldiers from the national military in Rwanda as well as interviews with American and British soldiers. There will therefore be particular (though by no means exclusive) focus on African armed forces and militaries in post-conflict societies. Guest speakers with field experience will be drawn in where appropriate.