The Reinventive Self: War Veterans’ Accounts of Trauma, Disillusionment and Reparation

Abstract

Relatively little attention has been paid to the final stage of Goffman’s moral career trajectory, when role incumbents develop an ‘ex-’ identity. Research on stigma management concerns the phase after labelling, once an actor is recognised as an ex-, but how do they get to that point? Ebaugh’s model of role exit helps to theorise this transition (becoming an ex-) as a socially negotiated process, through which actors manage the ‘dynamics of disengagement’ from a previously significant identity. However, this model has only been considered in relation to relatively ordinary, everyday roles relating to family or occupational life. We question whether and to what extent the same pattern of sequential stages can apply to actors seeking to extricate themselves from total institutions that have a more extremist, separatist or radical agenda. Taking examples from military contexts, we explore the unique dramaturgical, moral and existential dilemmas confronting those who become disenfranchised, how they manage their role exit process, and how they make sense of the experience. We compare two war veterans’ accounts of dis-identification, disillusionment, guilt and shame, emphasising the agency with which they performed reparative biographical work on their ex-identities. We observe two contrasting strategies of narrative realignment and therapeutic animation, showing how both serve to reintegrate disturbingly negative parts into an otherwise ‘good’ moral self.