Veterans in Society 2022
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- 5th Veterans in Society Conference: Resilience, Pedagogy, and Veteran Studies(2022-10-20)The program for the 5th Veterans in Society conference, held at the Arizona State University downtown Phoenix campus on October 20-21, 2022.
- From "The Veteran Problem" to people with problems: The American WWII VeteranMcDonald, Todd (2022-10)This paper is part of the research that I am doing for my dissertation. In my dissertation, I investigate the ways American veterans were portrayed as social problems in U.S. policy discourse near the end of WWII (1943-1946). Willard Waller, a WWI veteran and professor of sociology at Columbia University, outlined how he understood veterans to be a social problem in The Veteran Comes Back, and the National Broadcast Company (NBC) gave Waller’s perspective a national audience when his book was dramatized for a radio show in 1944. Waller’s theory of “The Veteran Problem” suggests that veterans return from military service as people with problems and eventually become threats to political and social stability if they are not properly reintegrated into civilian society. This study considers the extent to which other people who participated in WWII veteran policy discourse shared or deviated from a Waller-like theory. While my dissertation’s analysis will account for U.S. policy discourse in newspapers, academic papers, and Congressional hearings, this paper only discusses the preliminary findings from my analysis of academic papers. I also explain the next steps I will take in this project.
- Don Quixote: A Demonstration of Veteran Resilience in LiteratureDarbous Marthaller, Nan (2022-10)Veteran resilience is demonstrated in the novel Don Quixote by the author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra who was a military veteran as well as a prisoner. In his novel, Cervantes draws on his own battle and captivity experience, weaving it into the tale of Don Quixote. Buried in this work of fiction is the lived experience of a resilient veteran who returns to civilian life disabled, yet through his writing provides insight into military service.
- What Motivates Veterans to Become Small Business Owners: A Grounded Theory StudyFletcher, Joshua (2022-10)The purpose of this grounded theory qualitative study will be to explore the motivations of veterans that became small business owners. There is currently a gap in research literature on veteran small business owners, even though they make up the largest minority of the entire U.S. small business population at 14 percent. And only about a third of small businesses survive more than ten years. A better understanding of what motivates so many veterans to become small business owners could benefit other current and future small business owners and possibly increase their chances of success, as well as contributing to the existing body of research on small business.
- Just Laugh It Off: Humor, VET TV, and the Possibilities of ResilienceArmenta, John E. (2022-10)Humor has potential for assisting trauma survivors and their resilience. Vet TV is an online comedy network creating humor to help veterans recover from their psychological wounds, connect with other veterans, and create resilience to prevent suicide. In this paper I explore the connections between humor and resilience after trauma and how Vet TV argues its comedy helps veterans. By focusing on the communicative functions of humor we can better understand the potentials and pitfalls of humor when used by veterans for the purpose of creating community and the possibility of resilience.