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This paper addresses the relative lack of studies of military phenomena by ethnonmethdology and conversation analysis (EMCA). It focuses in particular on Garfinkel's unique adequacy requirement of methods – the utility of which is argued still remains - and addresses the perceived (and actual) limitations of a researcher's absence of first-hand 'military' experience may raise. It argues 'limitations' can potentially be addressed through reflection upon what constitutes a military phenomenon and what corresponding uniquely adequate familiarity the researcher therefore may have. When issues of correspondence still remain, it is suggested (and illustrated) that creative EMCA methodologies can frequently overcome them through the judicious use of various data collection practices and analysis in light of that assessment. The ultimate aim of this paper is to suggest ways of opening-up to greater ethnomethodological scrutiny under-researched phenomena of military, militarism and militarisation practice. An important additional aim is to illustrate that methodological attention to 'unique adequacy' can usefully be deployed in the research design of non-ethnomethodological formal analytic studies of military phenomena (and indeed non-military phenomena): Critical Military Studies is used as perspicuous example of this. ; + Sprache: eng

Although usually marketed as single-authored, interviews with the authors of military memoirs indicated the significance of collaboration with others throughout their writing and publication process. This paper describes the nature of these collaborations. We go on to suggest that collaborative practices were not seen by the authors as diminishing to the centrality of the named author or the reliability of their narratives. That while the collaborative roles of editors, writing coaches, and agents were evident, professional (military) colleagues and friends, family members, and military institutions played a significant role in determining memoir structures, formats, styles, and contents. We also draw attention to the research interview as itself a time and space for the collaborative co-construction by researcher and author of conceptual understanding of the memoir. We argue that understanding these collaborative practices adds to, rather than detract from, our understanding and appreciation of this genre.

This paper argues for the continued significance of the text as a source and focus in critical geopolitical inquiry. It establishes the utility of the military memoir in explorations of popular contemporary geopolitical imaginaries, and considers the memoir as a vector of militarism. The paper examines the memoirs written by military personnel about service in Afghanistan with the British armed forces, specifically about deployments to Helmand province between 2006 and 2012. The paper explores how Afghanistan is scripted through these texts, focussing on the explanations for deployment articulated by their authors, on the representations they contain and promote about other combatants and about civilian non-combatants, and the constitution and expression of danger in the spaces and places of military action which these texts construct and convey. The paper then turns to consider how a reading of the military memoir with reference to the genre of testimonio might extend and inform our understanding and use of these texts as a source for exploring popular geopolitics and militarism.