This article addresses a significant gap in the transformative learning literature as it relates to collective transformation, a transformation that is a level beyond individual transformation and is differentiated from the designed and imposed forms of social or organizational change. We consider collective transformation as an emergent and shared worldview shift that is grounded in a shared experience. The participants might not be fully aware of or even able to describe this experience until they engage with it at the interpersonal level. In prior research and practice, the five authors have independently observed and documented the phenomenon of collective transformation among members of marginalized populations who have undergone liminal experiences—forms of disequilibrium that leave individuals betwixt and between. The common thread in these experiences is the emergence of a shared feeling called communitas, which is a deeply felt (yet often temporary) sense of belonging and community. This study’s purpose is to further explore the roles that states of liminality and communitas play in creating the conditions for collective transformation. We draw on several theoretical and practice-based areas of literature and on five particular types of experience. We then examine each case for shared experiences of liminality and communitas as well as for the underlying qualities of self-understanding, relational ability, and a collectively felt sense of new possibilities. This study also includes suggestions for the application of these concepts to other social groups and in other contexts.

Social reintegration of veterans following military service is a complex, nonlinear, and highly individualized phenomenon, yet much of the existing literature on transition of veterans represents a narrow and limited perspective of transition and trauma—mostly written from an external (nonveteran) perspective. We present an alternative based on concepts of personal and social transformation through collaborative, veteran-led social science research designed from an interdisciplinary Adlerian (social systems) perspective. Participants are military-connected students, defined as service members, veterans, family members, and mental health practitioners experienced in working with military and veteran populations. Research projects described were designed by the students, and these typically involved informal data gathering and self-reflection, combined with extensive review of current interdisciplinary literature in the military psychology field. A case study of informal participative research with a cohort of female Navy Chief Petty Officers by the first author is presented as an example. Conclusions and recommendations support further extension of this cohort-driven adult learning model as a means of combining personal growth and social transformation by including military, veteran, and family perspectives in research and literature directed toward veterans’ social and mental health programs and policies.

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This special edition of the Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship (JCES) is the result of a 2-year effort to identify, compile, and publish scholarly research about military-to-civilian transitions conducted by service members, veterans, and their families (SMVF). It gives these SMVF voices center stage by representing a lived experience that speaks a truth to the scientific literature that bears careful and thoughtful consideration. This special edition was inspired by the awareness that many of the programs, policies and processes intended to facilitate social readjustment, transition, and mental health intervention for the SMVF community are largely based upon clinical research. Yet this research has historically limited the participation of individuals with lived experience in SMVF social worlds. As a result, scholarly representations have left out the full nature and diversity of the veteran community and the voices of the oft forgotten military family. As the project continued, we came to understand another compelling reason to publish this work. Scholarship reflecting the experiences of military veterans and their families (as a largely marginalized population) also holds valuable lessons for a society that struggles broadly with issues of identity, values, and belonging, including the balance between unity and diversity.

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