Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Afghanistani Art'

Hadda est le nom d’un village moderne de l’Afghanistan, situé à douze kilomètres au sud de Jellalabad, construit sur les ruines d’une petite ville préislamique dont dépendait un grand ensemble monastique bouddhique. Les vestiges les plus anciens sont datés du IIe siècle de notre ère et l’incendie généralisé qui ruine les sites est à placer au moment de la montée musulmane, vers le IXe siècle de notre ère. Plusieurs dizaines de monastères ont été retrouvés, comptant des centaines de stupa, des dizaines de niches, caitya (chapelles) et banquettes ornés d’œuvres de facture hellénistico-bouddhique : des modelages en stuc et en argile surtout, mais aussi des sculptures en pierre, notamment en schiste et en calcaire, ainsi que des peintures. La motivation scientifique de cette étude est multiple, car tout en replaçant l’art monastique de Hadda au sein de l’art du Gandhara, elle permet de mettre en lumière plusieurs originalités de cette école : l’usage massif du modelage donne naissance à un mode nouveau de composition tridimensionnel, ainsi qu’à l’apparition de scènes ne représentant pas un épisode particulier de la légende canonique du Buddha mais complétant la décoration du monastère en créant une ambiance particulière ou en évoquant symboliquement un épisode. La réunion du talent et de la créativité de l’école de modelage de Hadda, alliant un art à la fois traditionnel et canonique mais aussi audacieux et original, explique son influence que l’on suit à travers le Kapiça et la Bactriane, passant par Bamiyan et aboutissant à l’Asie Centrale chinoise
Hadda is the name of a modern village of Afghanistan, located twelve miles south of Jellalabad and built on the ruins of a pre-Islamic city, on which depended a great Buddhist monastery. The earliest remains are dated from the second century AD and a generalized fire destroyed the site around the ninth century AD, during the Muslim rise. Dozens of monasteries were found, with hundreds of stupa and a huge amount of niches and caitya (chapels) carved in Greco-Buddhist style : mostly clay and stucco modelings, as well as limestone and schist sculptures, and a few paintings. The scientific purpose of this study is multiple, for while setting Hadda monastic art within Gandhara art, it helps to highlighting several features of this school: the massive use of modeling generates a new method of three-dimensional composition, and the appearance of scenes not representing specific episode of Buddha’s canonical legend, thus completing the decoration of the monastery by creating a particular atmosphere or evoking an episode in a symbolic way. The combination of the talent and creativity of the modeling school of Hadda resulting in an art both traditional and canonical, but also daring and original, explains an influence that can be followed across Kapisa and Bactria, through Bamiyan and to Chinese Central Asia

Das Pro und Contra hinsichtlich bewaffneter Drohnen für die Bundeswehr schwelte hierzulande bereits seit Längerem, als Bundesverteidigungsminister de Maizière 2012 mit einem befürwortenden Plädoyer aus der Deckung trat und solche Kampfmaschinen als „ethisch neutral“ einstufte. Inzwischen könnte – ohne Einbeziehung des Parlaments – eine Entscheidung der Bundesregierung gefallen sein. In der Antwort auf eine parlamentarische Anfrage der Linkspartei hieß es, „dass eine durchhaltefähige bewaffnete Aufklärung […] als Schutz bei plötzlich auftretenden gravierenden Lageänderungen unbedingt erforderlich ist“.

The relationship between photographer and subject in nineteenth-century photographs of Afghanistan operates as a component of identity construction. To date, this interaction is theorized in terms of power between the photographer and the colonial apparatus and labels the image as orientalist, colonializing, and ethnographic. I propose an additional perspective that places consumer interests in costume at the forefront of image construction. While Western photographers have left us with a perception of nineteenth-century Afghanistan as an intersection between British occupied India and Russia, the social economic impetus of these images require further analysis. An examination of British cultural and photographic practices reveals the role clothes play in the creation of the ethnic `type.? My research addresses these principal themes: the continuities between photographic and pre-photographic visualities; the relationship between European cultural attitudes, the creation of costume books, and reception of commercial photography; how visual information was repurposed and influenced the development of anthropology as a discipline. The importance of studying costume and costume books in the nineteenth century is instrumental to understanding Europe?s transition to a culture focused on classification and commodification. Costume books not only allowed for the creation of a consumable `type? in photography, and permit us to examine the actual mechanics of commodification.

Thesis (M.S. in Information Operations)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2009.
Thesis Advisor: Robinson, Glenn E. Second Reader: Gregg, Heather S. "December 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on February 1, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Information strategy, Taliban, cultural framing, night letters. Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-59). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2009.
Thesis Advisor(s): Simons, Anna. Second Reader: Johnson, Thomas H. "December 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on January 26, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Afghan National Police (ANP), Counterinsurgency (COIN), Culture, Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA), Taliban. Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-88). Also available in print.

In 2015, the number of unaccompanied children that fled to Sweden and applied for asylum was 35 369, more than ever before. The great majority of them, 22 806, were young male refugees from Afghanistan, often with very small chances of returning back to their countries mainly due to war, oppression and poverty. For any society to become sustainable, integration of new citizens is essential. However, right-wing populist parties and nationalism is growing in Europe, including Sweden. The fundamental socioeconomic and cultural flourishing needed for individuals to get integrated is lacking and thus causing a segregated Sweden. The question is why. Hence, the purpose of this master thesis was to examine what barriers that exist for economic-, social- and cultural integration in Sweden based on the perceptions of young male refugees from Afghanistan. This was studied through ten qualitative semi-structured interviews with young male Afghan refugees between 19 and 25 years’ old in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, in April 2019. The results were analysed through a conceptual framework of economic-, social- and cultural integration. The results revealed that language was perceived to be the main barrier for both economic-, social- and cultural integration, which in turn impacted the other perceived barriers of attaining an employment, lack of governmental support, difficulties in interacting with Swedes and crash of cultures. Experienced discrimination was mentioned throughout all societal spheres. To overcome these barriers, interactions with Swedes was believed to be essential. Factors that showed to enable this were improved language skills, active societal participation and living with host families.

The modern battlefield is a changing environment where new ideas and technology are being tried and implemented. One such technology that has brought recent changes to the battlefield is the Unmanned Aerial Combat Vehicles (UCAV), commonly (and often incorrectly) referred to as “drones”. UCAV can be considered the new weapon of choice to deal with irregular opponents or terrorist organisations, such as those in Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, the use of UCAV is not without contradictory elements and leads to debate. It is within this debate that this study takes foothold. This study will be analysing the debate and issues surrounding this by evaluating four contrasting variables, measuring impact through different means and aiming to increase the understanding of UACV in the field. There are several crossovers in the analysis of all four variables citing the strengths and weaknesses of UCAV provisions in conflict. The analysis, however, conclude that a sole, holistic use of UCAV strikes would not resort in a termination of threats, such as the Taliban or Al-Qaida. This means that both the positive and the negative aspects of UCAV are seen in the conflict and do not contradict one another. Regretfully, this implicates that even if the Taliban and Al-Qaida becomes less effective due to the UCAV strikes, they will not perish.

Military Media Machine is an investigation into the media management structure, and the increasingly dynamic communication processes, developed and implemented by the UK military. It explores – rather than explains – the proliferation in military media facilitation within defence, at a time when the British armed forces are concluding their nearly 13-year campaign in Afghanistan. During this extraordinary period of strategic pressure, telling a story of success has become a key factor in the military’s understanding of their own communication function. So this thesis suggests. It does so by demonstrating how strategic narratives are constructed to distance the soldier and the military institution from the war itself. It shows how the military shift from a combat to a ‘train and advice’ role has challenged the ways in which this distinction is upheld and communicated. This has a wider applicability too, as it testifies to the increasing conflation of military goals and political objectives. Using access to UK and NATO field settings and doctrinal discussions, the study documents a growing presence of media theory at the heart of military doctrine. It demonstrates how the British military have engaged large (and not necessarily efficient) resources to managing the story as part of their Afghanistan exit strategy. This includes new communication initiatives, online engagement procedures, information doctrine and media training facilitation. Thesis findings indicate that the purpose of these initiatives is to influence target audiences through the ‘means’ of the media. They paint a picture of an organisation that is increasingly engaged in catering to, and producing material for, the media. Media studies have generally not engaged in military communication research. Similarly, the military have shown little interest in involving external partners in their communication function. The thesis positions itself at the heart of this discussion. It recognises that new frameworks of understanding are needed; frameworks that do not attempt to improve the effectiveness of military messaging but which examine it and consider the practice. Unlike most work carried out in military academies the purpose of the study has not been to develop doctrine. Rather, by taking on an inside-out approach (as opposed to an outside-in approach) the thesis examines a fast-growing aspect of communication research that has so far been poorly documented within media and communications studies.

BACKGROUND: Millions of people have fled from their countries, due to war or conflict, in order to find a safer environment for themselves and their children. One common destination is Europe, which people can reach only through the sea from the Turkish coast to the Greek coast after walking hundreds of kilometers through the mountains. This long journey has a significant impact on refugee children’s health and that is primarily observed in the Greek islands were they can seek for emergency health care. The aim of this study is to investigate the reasons that the refugee children seek for emergency help in the hospital of Lesbos, Greece.   METHODS: Primary data collection from the medical records of the Pediatric department of the hospital of Lesbos. Statistical analysis of the data with R commander 3.2.1.The results will be presented in diagrams and tables, showing the most common symptoms/clinical findings, diagnoses, origin, gender, hospitalization or not of the refugee children and the relation of the symptoms and diagnoses in accordance with the seasonality, age, gender and origin calculated with Chi² and Chi² Fischer test.   RESULTS: Respiratory tract infections and gastro-intestinal tract infections are the first two most common diagnoses by far. Almost half of the refugee children that were submitted in the Hospital of Lesbos needed hospitalization and further treatment. More than half of the refugee children that sought after emergency help in the hospital of Lesbos were Syrians and boys. Mental health was also a big issue.   CONCLUSION: The journey that the refugee children are undertaking in order to reach the Greek islands and the prolonged living in refugee camps and detention centers is affecting their mental and physical health, with respiratory tract infections and gastro-intestinal tract infections being the major diagnoses.

Transboundary water treaties are often expected to prevent conflicts over waters from shared rivers. However, empirical evidence shows that some upstream countries continue to experience conflict after signing a water treaty. This study explains why some upstream countries experience high post-treaty transboundary water conflict levels while others do not. Departing from theories on the character of states, I argue that weaker upstream countries are more likely to experience post-treaty transboundary water conflict than stronger upstream states. This is because a weak upstream state has fewer capabilities, which creates an imbalance of power with its downstream riparian neighbor and presents a zero-sum game condition. As a result, the upstream state is more likely to experience a high level of conflict after signing an agreement. The hypothesis is tested on two transboundary river cases, the Helmand River Basin and the Indus River Basin, using a structured, focused comparison method. The data is collected through secondary sources, including books, journals, news articles, and reports, government records. The results of the study mainly support the theoretical arguments. It shows a significant relationship between the character of the upstream state and the level of post-treaty transboundary water conflict in the upstream state.

This qualitative, action research study was guided by two primary research questions. First, how do students negotiate aesthetic, efferent, and critical stances when reading a novel set in Afghanistan? Second, how do aesthetic and efferent stances contribute to or hinder the adoption of a critical stance? A large body of research exists that examines student responses to literature, and much of that research is based on the transactional theory of reading. However, it remains unclear how critical literacy fits into this theory. This study describes how one group of high school students’ aesthetic and efferent responses to a novel set in Afghanistan supported their development of critical stances. Six students enrolled in a ninth-grade English course participated in this study. Data were collected for 13 weeks. Data included two individual interviews with each student, student writing assignments in the form of 6 assigned journal entries and 7 assigned essays, transcriptions of 12 class discussions, field notes, lesson plans, a teacher researcher journal, and research memos. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Three major findings emerged from this study. First, class discussions provided a context for students to adopt stances that were not evident in their individual written responses to the novel, which were completed prior to the discussions. Second, the discussions provided scaffolding that helped several of the students adopt world-efferent and critical stances. Third, both the aesthetic and the efferent stances contributed to students’ adoption of critical stances.

This study examines the nature and possible causes of the changes in the art and artistry of Abdul Rahim Ghafori, an Afghan artist who has migrated to Sweden. The premise of this paper is that over time a person who migrates to another culture will undergo change. In an artist this change should manifest itself in his art and artistry. The study examines this process of change and how it is manifested in the artistry and art of Abdul Rahim Ghafori. The study intends to increase knowledge and understanding of the changes a person undergoes when experiencing a culture change.

Studien är en detaljerad fallstudie vilken ingående belyser ett konstnärskap och utförligt diskuterar ett antal av konstnärens verk. Studien undersöker vilka förändringar i konst och konstnärskapberoende på kulturbyte som kan skönjas hos den afghanske men till Sverige invandrade konstnären Abdul Rahim Ghafori. Att det över tid sker en förändring hos en person som invandrat till en annan kultur är ett utgångsantagande för studien. Hos en konstnär bör denna förändring visa sig i konst och konstnärskap. I studien undersöks vad som händer och hur detta visar sig i Ghaforis konstnärskap och konst samt vilka möjliga orsaker dessa förändringar har. Studien avser att utöka kunskapen om och förståelsen för de förändringar en människa går igenom när han eller hon byter kultur.

The use of arguments containing increasingly technical materials has grown significantly in the recent years. Specifically, arguments that are used to justify military expenditures or to allege violations of international agreements are becoming more sophisticated. This study examines the dissemination and use of technical argument in claims made by the United States government that the Soviet Union violated chemical and biological treaties in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan. This study employs the Jowett-O'Donnell method for analyzing propaganda to determine the extent and effectiveness of the government's claims. The study concludes that propaganda was used extensively by the government in order to justify new weapons programs and that the propaganda campaign was effective because of the technological orientation of its claims.

Through historical and content analyses of war coverage, this study qualitatively addresses emotional quality, use of sources, and implied use of technology to better understand the tension between Vietnam and Afghanistan war correspondents and their military counterparts. Early American democracy aspired to give total freedom to its people. But the American military, in its quest to uphold the ideas of democracy, has often challenged the freedom of press clause set forth by the United States Constitution. Since the Vietnam era, the relationship between the military and the media has been plagued by questions of censorship, assertions of falsehood, and threats to national security. But it is the technological advancements in both reporting and combat techniques that have caused a disappearance of the nostalgic war coverage that American correspondents once prospered from. The possibility of returning to journalists' vision of unrestricted press access is all but lost due to such advancements.

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This thesis examines the evolution of NATO as an institution in the International System by reference to Articles 4, 5 and 6 of the Washington Treaty of 1949. Initially, the thesis considers NATO from an international relations perspective. It then proceeds to examine the institutional evolutionary process of the Alliance since its inception and implementation in 1949. Furthermore, it explores the significance and the meaning of the aforementioned Articles. This thesis utilizes the case study method and refers to four distinct events that have shaped allied policies and strategies: the Suez Crisis of 1956, the establishment of the politico-military consultation process, the Yom Kippur War (1973), and the end of the Cold War (1989-1991). It also examines the allied policies after the events of September 11, 2001. Moreover, it identifies a general pattern of events pertinent to crisis creation inside NATO when the organization is facing a defense issue outside the Euro-Atlantic area. Finally, the thesis concludes that NATO is more than an ordinary military Alliance, as advocated by its longevity, agility and adaptability, which allows the Alliance to maintain a central position in the International System as a robust politico-military organization.
Lieutenant Commander, Hellenic Navy

Le conflit afghan (à partir de 2001) peut être considéré comme un nouveau conflit asymétrique reprenant les caractéristiques des conflits asymétriques classiques (rapport de force disproportionné entre les belligérants) à l’exception de la territorialisation, remplacée par l’appartenance à une idéologie commune. En conséquence, le champ de bataille y est devenu secondaire, la guerre est devenue cognitive. La séparation entre la paix et la guerre s’est atténuée à tel point qu’il est devenu impossible de compartimenter le droit de la guerre en fonction de l’intensité du conflit ou de son internationalisation. Faute de s’y être adapté, le droit de la guerre a cessé de faciliter le rétablissement de la paix et a été perçu par les militaires occidentaux comme une entrave aux combats. C’est pourquoi, certains belligérants ont tenté de s’en affranchir en ayant recours à des méthodes de combats illégitimes. Ces effets ont été médiatisés et ont participé à la perte de légitimité des Etats occidentaux allant jusqu’à remettre en question la division du monde en Etats souverains. L’absence de résolution de ces conflits pourrait conduire à une guerre civile globalisée. En réponse, l’harmonisation du droit de la guerre autour de la garantie inconditionnelle des droits inaliénables doit être affirmée par les Etats et les nouveaux acteurs internationaux. Elle pourrait émerger d’un « Parlement mondial », garant du droit international. De plus, l’irréprochabilité morale des belligérants est attendue. Le droit et la place des armées au sein de la société doivent le refléter
The Afghan war (since 2001) may be seen as a new asymmetric conflict. It has all characteristics of the former asymmetric conflicts except territoriality, which has been replaced by ideology. Therefore, the battlefields have been displaced to the cognitive war. The distinction between war and peace became so small that it is now impossible to distinguish the law of war in regard to its intensity or to the implication of several states. The law of wars, due to its lack of adaptation stopped to ease the peace recovery, becoming a hindrance to combat. In consequence, some warriors have been tempted to use forbidden combat methods. Whose effects have been mediatized and took part of the western states legitimacy crisis (and questionning the World division in sovereign states). The lack of conflicts settlement could lead to a worldwide civil war. Unless, law of wars are harmonized through universal core rights mandatory for states and new international actors; a “World Parliament” could protect them. Furthermore, moral integrity of warriors is expected, it may be reflected into the military laws and their position into the civil society

More than 2.6 million troops have deployed in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Still, surveys reveal that more than half feel “disconnected” from their civilian counterparts, and this feeling persists despite ongoing efforts, in the academy and elsewhere, to help returning veterans overcome physical and mental wounds, seek an education, and find meaningful ways to contribute to society after taking off the uniform. This dissertation argues that Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans struggle with reassimilation because they lack healthy, complete models of veteran identity to draw upon in their postwar lives, a problem they’re working through collectively in literature and artwork. The war veteran—returning home transformed by the harsh realities of military training and service, having seen humanity at its extremes, and interacting with a society apathetic toward his or her experiences—should engage in the act of storytelling. This act of sharing experiences and crafting-self subverts stereotypes. Storytelling, whether in a book read by millions, or in a single conversation with a close family member, should instruct civilians on the topic of human resiliency; it should instruct veterans on the topic of homecoming. But typically, veterans do not tell stories. Civilians create barriers to storytelling in the form of hollow platitudes—“thank you for your service” or “I can never understand what you’ve been through”—disconnected from the meaning of wartime service itself. The dissonance between veteran and civilian only becomes more complicated when one considers the implicit demands and expectations attached to patriotism. These often well-intentioned gestures and government programs fail to convey a message of appreciation because they refuse to convey a message of acceptance; the exceptional treatment of veterans by larger society implies also that they are insufficient, broken, or incomplete. So, many veterans chose conformity and silence, adopting one of two identities available to them: the forever pitied “Wounded Warrior” or the superficially praised “Hero.” These identities are not complete. They’re not even identities as much as they are collections of rumors, misrepresentations, and expectations of conformity. Once an individual veteran begins unconsciously performing the “Wounded Warrior” or “Hero” character, the number of potential outcomes available in that individual’s life is severely diminished. Society reinforces a feeling among veterans that they are “different.” This shared experience has resulted in commiseration, camaraderie, and also the proliferation of veterans’ creative communities. As storytellers, the members of these communities are restoring meaning to veteran-civilian discourse by privileging the nuanced experiences of the individual over stereotypes and emotionless rhetoric. They are instructing on the topics of war and homecoming, producing fictional and nonfictional representations of the veteran capable of competing with stereotypes, capable of reassimilation. The Introduction establishes the existence of veteran culture, deconstructs notions of there being a single or binary set of veteran identities, and critiques the social and cultural rhetoric used to maintain symbolic boundaries between veterans and civilians. It begins by establishing an approach rooted in interdisciplinary literary theory, taking veteran identity as its topic of consideration and the American unconscious as the text it seeks to examine, asking readers to suspend belief in patriotic rhetoric long enough to critically examine veteran identity as an apparatus used to sell war to each generation of new recruits. Patriotism, beyond the well-meaning gestures and entitlements afforded to veterans, also results in feelings of “difference,” in the veteran feeling apart from larger society. The inescapability of veteran “difference” is a trait which sets it apart from other cultures, and it is one bolstered by inaccurate and, at times, offensive portrayals of veterans in mass media and Hollywood films such as The Manchurian Candidate (1962), First Blood (1982), or Taxi Driver (1976). To understand this inescapability the chapter engages with theories of race, discussing the Korean War veteran in Home (2012) and other works by Toni Morrison to directly and indirectly explore descriptions of “difference” by African Americans and “others” not in positions of power. From there, the chapter traces veteran identity back to the Italian renaissance, arguing that modern notions of veteran identity are founded upon fears of returning veterans causing chaos and disorder. At the same time, writers such as Sebastian Junger, who are intimately familiar with veteran culture, repeatedly emphasize the camaraderie and “tribal” bonds found among members of the military, and instead of creating symbolic categories in which veterans might exist exceptionally as “Heroes,” or pitied as “Wounded Warriors,” the chapter argues that the altruistic nature which leads recruits to war, their capabilities as leaders and educators, and the need of larger society for examples of human resiliency are more appropriate starting points for establishing veteran identity. The Introduction is followed by an independent “Example” section, a brief examination of a student veteran named “Bingo,” one who demonstrates an ability to challenge, even employ veteran stereotypes to maintain his right to self-definition. Bingo’s story, as told in a “spotlight” article meant to attract student veterans to a college campus, portrays the veteran as a “Wounded Warrior” who overcomes mental illness and the scars of war through education, emerging as an exceptional example—a “Hero”—that other student veterans can model by enrolling at the school. Bingo’s story sets the stage for close examinations of the “Hero” and the “Wounded Warrior” in the first and second chapters. Chapter One deconstructs notions of heroism, primarily the belief that all veterans are “Heroes.” The chapter examines military training and indoctrination, Medal of Honor award citations, and film examples such as All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Heroes for Sale (1933), Sergeant York (1941), and Top Gun (1986) to distinguish between actual feats of heroism and “Heroes” as they are presented in patriotic rhetoric. The chapter provides the Medal of Honor citations attached to awards presented to Donald Cook, Dakota Meyer, and Kyle Carpenter, examining the postwar lives of Meyer and Carpenter, identifying attempts by media and government officials to appropriate heroism—to steal the right to self-definition possessed by these men. Among these Medal of Honor recipients one finds two types of heroism: Sacrificing Heroes give something of themselves to protect others; Attacking Heroes make a difference during battle offensively. Enduring Heroes, the third type of heroism discussed in the chapter, are a new construct. Colloquially, and for all intents and purposes, an Enduring Hero is simply a veteran who enjoys praise and few questions. Importantly, veterans enjoy the “Hero Treatment” in exchange for silence and conforming to larger narratives which obfuscate past wars and pave the way for new ones. This chapter engages with theorists of gender—such as Jack Judith Halberstam, whose Female Masculinities (1998) anticipates the agency increasingly available to women through military service; like Leo Braudy, whose From Chivalry to Terrorism (2003) traces the historical relationship between war and gender before commenting on the evolution of military masculinity—to discuss the relationship between heroism and agency, begging a question: What do veterans have to lose from the perpetuation of stereotypes? This question frames a detailed examination of William A. Wellman’s film, Heroes for Sale (1933), in the chapter’s final section. This story of stolen valor and the Great Depression depicts the homecoming of a WWI veteran separated from his heroism. The example, when combined with a deeper understanding of the intersection between veteran identity and gender, illustrates not only the impact of stolen valor in the life of a legitimate hero, but it also comments on the destructive nature of appropriation, revealing the ways in which a veteran stereotypes rob service men and women of the right to draw upon memories of military service which complete with those stereotypes. The military “Hero” occupies a moral high ground, but most conceptions of military “Heroes” are socially constructed advertisements for war. Real heroes are much rarer. And, as the Medal of Honor recipients discussed in the chapter reveal, they, too, struggle with lifelong disabilities as well as constant attempts by society to appropriate their narratives. Chapter Two traces the evolution of the modern “Wounded Warrior” from depictions of cowardice in Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage (1895), to the denigration of World War I veterans afflicted with Shell Shock, to Kevin Powers’s Iraq War novel, The Yellow Birds (2012). As with “Heroes,” “Wounded Warriors” perform a stereotype in place of an authentic, individualized identity, and the chapter uses Walt Kowalski, the protagonist of Clint Eastwood’s film, Gran Torino (2008), as its major example. The chapter discusses “therapeutic culture,” Judith Butler’s work on identity-formation, and Eva Illouz’s examination of a culture obsessed with trauma to comment on veteran performances of victimhood. Butler’s attempts to conceive of new identities absent the influence of systems of definition rooted in the state, in particular, reveal power in the opposite of silence, begging another question: What do civilians have to gain from the perpetuation of veteran stereotypes? Largely, the chapter finds, the “Wounded Warrior” persists in the minds of civilians who fear the veteran’s capacity for violence. A broken, damaged veteran is less of a threat. The story of the “Wounded Warrior” is not one of sacrifice. The “Wounded Warrior” exists after sacrifice, beyond any measure of “honor” achieved in uniform. “Wounded Warriors” are not expected to find a cure because the wound itself is an apparatus of the state that is commodified and injected into the currency of emotional capitalism. This chapter argues that military service and a damaged psyche need not always occur together. Following the second chapter, a close examination of “The Bear That Stands,” a short story by Suzanne S. Rancourt which confronts the author’s sexual assault while serving in the Marines, offers an alternative to both the “Hero” and the “Wounded Warrior” stereotypes. Rancourt, a veteran “Storyteller,” gives testimony of that crime, intervening in social conceptions of veteran identity to include a female perspective. As with the example of Bingo, the author demonstrates an innate ability to recognize and challenge the stereotypes discussed in the first and second chapters. This “Example” sets the stage for a more detailed examination of “Veteran Storytellers” and their communities in the final chapter. Chapter Three looks for examples of veteran “difference,” patriotism, the “Wounded Warrior,” and the “Hero” in nonfiction, fiction, and artwork emerging from the creative arts community, Military Experience and the Arts, an organization which provides workshops, writing consultation, and publishing venues to veterans and their families. The chapter examines veteran “difference” in a short story by Bradley Johnson, “My Life as a Soldier in the ‘War on Terror.’” In “Cold Day in Bridgewater,” a work of short fiction by Jerad W. Alexander, a veteran must confront the inescapability of that difference as well as expectations of conformity from his bigoted, civilian bartender. The final section analyzes artwork by Tif Holmes and Giuseppe Pellicano, which deal with the problems of military sexual assault and the effects of war on the family, respectively. Together, Johnson, Alexander, Holmes, and Pellicano demonstrate skills in recognizing stereotypes, crafting postwar identities, and producing alternative representations of veteran identity which other veterans can then draw upon in their own homecomings. Presently, no unified theory of veteran identity exists. This dissertation begins that discussion, treating individual performances of veteran identity, existing historical, sociological, and psychological scholarship about veterans, and cultural representations of the wars they fight as equal parts of a single text. Further, it invites future considerations of veteran identity which build upon, challenge, or refute its claims. Conversations about veteran identity are the opposite of silence; they force awareness of war’s uncomfortable truths and homecoming’s eventual triumphs. Complicating veteran identity subverts conformity; it provides a steady stream of traits, qualities, and motivations that veterans use to craft postwar selves. The serious considerations of war and homecoming presented in this text will be useful for Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans attempting to piece together postwar identities; they will be useful to scholars hoping to facilitate homecoming for future generations of war veterans. Finally, the Afterword to the dissertation proposes a program for reassimilation capable of harnessing the veteran’s symbolic and moral authority in such a way that self-definition and homecoming might become two parts of a single act.

The United States (US) has always used its aid program as a strategic lever in foreign policy. In the early days of aid, it was used to prosecute the Cold War. Now aid supports the United States in its effort to win the war on terror. Aid is used both to pursue short-term or “realist” objectives (e.g., to win support for US foreign policy goals) and long-term or “nation-building” ones (e.g. to strengthen governance). The trade-offs and tensions between these goals have been examined for the Cold War period (e.g., Seitz 2012), but not the post 9/11 one. This research takes a case-study approach and examines US aid to Pakistan. It is based primarily on interviews with the Pakistani and American elite collected in Pakistan between October 2011 and October 2013 and the United States in March 2012. The period of research (2011-2013) is one in which the Obama Administration tried to pivot its relationship with Pakistan away from a focus on realist objectives (principally, the war in Afghanistan) towards nation-building ends, for example, through a much larger civilian aid program to improve Pakistan’s governance and the economy. This thesis examines the success of that pivot, and argues it was limited, on three main grounds First, both groups of elite view Pakistan’s challenges are mostly nation-building in nature, and particularly related to its economy (and, in the case of the Pakistani elite, internal security needs). But both groups nevertheless perceive that the US still primarily wants cooperation on countering terrorism and in Afghanistan. Second, the leverage and goodwill that US aid provides is seen to be undermined by the pursuit of its realist objectives. Third, US aid is seen by many in the elite as targeted at the elite not the masses. Some interesting differences in views between the two groups of elite are observed. In general, more importance was attached to nation-building objectives by US respondents than by Pakistani respondents. For example, US respondents were more likely to think that the US was concerned with trying to improve Pakistani governance and was trying to influence public opinion in Pakistan, whereas Pakistani respondents viewed US aid as much less concerned with governance and more directed to the Pakistani elite. Despite these differences, which are suggestive of at least a genuine US intent to engage in nation-building, the findings of the thesis point to a failure by the Obama Administration to follow through on its nation-building objectives in Pakistan. Nation-building floundered, it is argued, because of ongoing disputes in relation to realist goals, especially in relation to the war on Afghanistan. Several published studies of US-Pakistan relations argue for a further nation-building push. In my interviews, I find considerable support for such a position in the US elite. However, I also find little sympathy for it on the Pakistani side. The Pakistani elite is concerned rather to regain equality in their relationship with the US. They see the need to put their own house in order, but have little appetite for US assistance. This calls into question the likely success of any further nation-building push on the part of the US in Pakistan. The academic contribution of this thesis is to establish the relevance of Cold War aid analysis for the post-9/11 era. The findings are consistent with much of the Cold War literature, though some nuances are provided to earlier conclusions. The policy contribution is to suggest that in cases such as Pakistan where short-term foreign policy goals are of great importance the US should put nation-building on the back-burner.