Abstract
The civil-military divide refers to the gap in understanding and experiences between a nation’s civilian population and its military. In recent years, this gap has grown significantly in the United States. The impacts of this divide are vast, from misperceptions at the interpersonal level to decreased military effectiveness at the national level. Within this context, and somewhat paradoxically, there has been consistent interest in military narratives. All of these works serve a dual purpose: they help military authors to reckon with their service and its implications, and they help civilian readers better understand the shared humanity between those who serve and themselves. Media as “middle-objects” are able to facilitate such human communication, in this case based between many and many–military and civilian citizens. While media bridge spatial separations, so that people not in each other’s immediate physical presence can connect, they also bridge mental separations, enabling feelings of difference to soften, or even erode. The objective of this paper is to understand the current use of such media, specifically published works, through two major lenses with relation to publishing implications. First, it investigates the narratives’ role in traumatic healing, at the act-of-writing level. Then it considers the broader application of such publication in American society. This paper reviews current research on military storytelling with suggestions to how it may be supportive of a broader objective: bridging the civil-military divide.
Presenters
Marissa LemarMaster Instructor, Humanities and Social Sciences/English, United States Naval Academy, Maryland, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Media Economics, Narratives, Marketing, Journalism, Public Relations, Publishing, Military
