Awkward Moments in the Anthropology of the Military and the (Im)possibility of Critique

Letting the Right Ones in. Gendered Boundary Work in the Military Profession

“…This profession has been, and to some degree remains, tied to traditional notions of masculinity that have motivated soldiers to risk their lives and added to the prestige and status of military work. But the social status and recognition of a profession is never a given -and perhaps even less so for a profession frequently subject to the moral judgement and political agendas that comes with military work (Sørensen & Weisdorf, 2019). A need for policing the boundaries of the military profession also arises due to bureaucratic and political institutions challenging the autonomy and monopoly essential to any profession.…”

Productive Uneasiness as a Driver of Knowledge Creation Processes in Humanities-Business Collaborations

“…Productive uneasiness further differs in the choice of wording and the affiliated meaning. As described above, previous research on the topic mostly focuses on the feeling of awkwardness as a rather strong feeling of worry, discomfort, or anxiety (Clegg 2012;Koning and Ooi 2013;Sørensen and Weisdorf 2021). With uneasiness, however, we want to primarily capture more subtle feelings such as a slight touch of worry or tension in the relationship.…”