Living liminal lives: Army partners’ spatiotemporal experiences of deployment
Research Report:
Research SummaryAPA Citation:
Long, E. (2022). Living liminal lives: Army partners’ spatiotemporal experiences of deployment. Armed Forces & Society, 48(3), 589–608. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X21995966
Abstract Created by REACH:
Liminality refers to the state of ambiguity during a time of transition – that is, the feeling of being ‘in-between’ the known and unknown. This study used the concept of liminality to highlight the complexities of deployment overlooked when deployment stages are conceptualized solely as distinct periods of time and space (e.g., predeployment, postdeployment). Women spouses of British Army Soldiers (N = 26) were interviewed about previous and future deployments and about transitions within the deployment cycle. Interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis, and 3 main themes emerged: spousal interpretation of Service members’ previous deployments, imagined future deployments, and feelings of ambiguity when between deployments.
Focus:
Couples
Deployment
Mental health
Branch of Service:
Army
Military Affiliation:
Active Duty
Subject Affiliation:
Spouse of service member or veteran
Population:
Adulthood (18 yrs & older)
Young adulthood (18 - 29 yrs)
Thirties (30 - 39 yrs)
Middle age (40 - 64 yrs)
Methodology:
Qualitative Study
Authors:
Long, Emma
Abstract:
The emotional cycle of deployment theorized by Logan and adapted by Pincus, House, Christenson, and Alder is often applied by academics and military support agencies to define, explain, and provide advice on the experiences and possible emotional reactions of military families during phases of deployment. Interviews with army partners showed that spatiotemporal experiences and perspectives are more complex than those afforded by the emotional cycle of deployment. This article argues that applying the concept of liminality uncovers some of this complexity, illuminating the in-between times experienced during deployments that are otherwise hidden. Army partners move through and between deployments and deployment phases haunted by specters of past and future deployments. By disrupting seemingly chronological and discrete spatiotemporal narratives, which often frame research on military families and deployment, this article demonstrates how army partners move through and between deployments and deployment stages negotiating past and future deployments. It shows how they continuously adapt and evolve practices while negotiating interpreted pasts and imagined futures in pursuit of becoming “ideal.”
Publication Type:
Article
REACH Publication
Keywords:
Army partners, deployment, family issues, liminality, postdeployment, sociology
REACH Publication Type:
Research Summary
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